Outside the Beltway

REAL BULLETS?

James Joyner · Sunday, August 10, 2003 · 4 comments

Drudge has the following blurb, sans link, atop his site at the moment:

California Democratic Party Spokesman Bob Mulholland this weekend warned Arnold Schwarzenegger that “real bullets” will be coming his way during his campaign to be governor, just as opponants race to find alleged videos which claim to show the movie star groping women… Developing…

This comes soon after his earlier report of a Time-CNN poll showing Schwarzenegger comfortably ahead on Lt.Gov. Bustamonte, despite having multiple Republican rivals versus one Democrat:

California voters would remove Governor Gray Davis from office by a margin of 54% to 35%, if the election were held today, according to a new TIME/CNN Poll.

Arnold Schwarzenegger would lead the field of candidates to replace Davis with 25 percent, if the election were held today. His closest rival is Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamanate, with 15 percent.

Trailing were State Sen. Tom McClintock (9%), former candidate for governor Bill Simon (7%) and (tied with 4%) Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, columnist Arianna Huffington, and former Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

Update (2201): Shockingly, given the fact that Drudge never exaggerates his headlines [/sarcasm], this has turned out to be mere idiocy rather than anything serious. The “linked” version of the above story is much more innocuous:

California Democratic Party Spokesman Bob Mulholland this weekend warned Arnold Schwarzenegger that “real bullets” will be coming his way during his campaign to be governor!

“Schwarzenegger is going to find out, that unlike a Hollywood movie set, the bullets coming at him in this campaign are going to be real bullets and he is going to have to respond to them,” warned Mulholland in an interview with a camera crew from ABC NEWS.

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“[Wife] Maria [Shriver] has been very concerned about Arnold’s safety, her family has a history with assassination, you know,” a source with direct ties to the movie star told the DRUDGE REPORT from Los Angeles.

“Mr. Mulholland and his talk of ‘real bullets’ with Arnold’s name on them is reckless and not acceptable political discourse. He should be fired immediately, if the Democrats have any conscience.”

The stunning threat from Mulholland, who rose to fame in 1992 after exposing how Republican Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn visted a strip joint in Hollywood, comes as the historic recall election moves in to high gear — and Schwarzenegger takes the lead in the polls.

Mullholland could not be reached for comment Sunday night.

So, by “real bullets,” he apparently meant “figurative” bullets in the form of sleazy campaigning rather than “real-real” bullets that one might fire from a weapon. Brilliant.