Rush Limbaugh thinks
Arnold is conservative

After initially stating Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a conservative, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is now professing the actor and governor-wannabe is actually conservative in his heart, with advisers trying to manage him out of his core beliefs.

Rush Limbaugh

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"We've got a golden opportunity out here in California if Schwarzenegger would simply be who he is," Limbaugh said on his top-rated national program yesterday. "I think Schwarzenegger is a conservative."

The comments come on the heels of previous analysis once Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy. Limbaugh then stated:

"Hear me now and believe me later, my friends: all these conservative orgasms over Arnold Schwarzenegger are – like the 'Gorbasms' liberals experienced over Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev – fake. I know that 'R' next to Schwarzenegger's name excites the White House, but his own words prove he's not a conservative. I call this 'The Hollywood Syndrome,' and it happens every time some actor-type says anything even remotely conservative. I'm not trying to cold shower anybody here, but don't look to anyone in Hollywood to validate your political ideas."

But during yesterday's show, Limbaugh said his new suggestion that Schwarzenegger is conservative was not based on anything the Austrian native said.

I think Schwarzenegger's natural inclinations, when he arrived in this country and who he is (I know there's the Kennedy thing there), I think that's who he is. He's afraid to be it, doesn't want to be it anymore, whatever, or has been advised he can't be it if he's going to win. If Schwarzenegger would simply run on a conservative fiscal agenda, he would win. He doesn't need to do all of this stuff to go to "the middle."

Limbaugh, who himself penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed commentary on the need for conservatism in California, lamented how he hadn't heard Schwarzenegger discuss lowering taxes or providing business incentives, though later in the day the actor outlined some of his fiscal policies.

Following a meeting with billionaire investor and abortion-rights supporter Warren Buffett, as well as Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State George Shultz, Schwarzenegger said he was against high taxes in principle because state residents had been punished long enough.

Schwarzenegger and wife, Maria Shriver

"From the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they're taxed. Then they go and get a coffee, they're taxed. They get into their car, they're taxed," he said. "They go to the gas station, they're taxed. They go for lunch, they're taxed. This goes on all day long. ... Even when they go to bed, they have the fear that they will be taxed while they sleep. ...

"We must have a constitutional spending cap and must immediately attack operating deficits head on. Does this mean we are going to make cuts? Yes. Does this mean education is on table? No. Does this mean I am willing to raise taxes? No. Additional taxes are the last burden we need to put on the backs of the citizens and businesses of California."

But the candidate also pointed out he couldn't rule out any higher levies.

"It's clear we can't ever say never," he said.

In her latest WorldNetDaily column, commentator Ann Coulter says while Schwarzenegger is certainly an improvement over current Gov. Gray Davis, the actor does not carry the torch for conservative-minded citizens.

"Conservatives were wary of Schwarzenegger even before Tax 'em and Kill 'em Buffett joined the campaign," she writes. "Schwarzenegger claims to be a fiscal conservative and a liberal on social issues. Historically, that means: 'liberal.' All politicians claim to be tax-cutting, fiscal conservatives when they are running for office.'

Still, Limbaugh says one only needs to look at the Republican actor's own lifestyle in recent years to gauge what he believes.

"I can tell you the way Arnold Schwarzenegger invests and lives his life and runs his own businesses, there's nothing liberal about it."

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