Can I just point out to you that what's considered left-wing in the US is considered ultra-conservative in most of Europe.
It's about perception. Austrians PERCEIVED his words as if he said Austrians were dominated somehow by socialist/communist forces in his childhood, and having read the transcripts, I can certainly understand why they took it that way. At the end of the day you have to ask what point Schwarzenegger was trying to make, and why he used his Austrian background.
If it's the same interview i read, the historian actually said "it was impossible for him to see Soviet tanks in the Steiermark, although he could have been in the Soviet sector as a child".
I haven't read this thread, so presumably this has already been covered, but: the Russians occupied parts of Austria until 1955. Vienna as far as I know was divided into four sectors, much like Berlin. Also Schwarzenegger is not from Vienna.
I just debunked every one of the Arnold "lies" you claim his speech contained, thus invalidating the premise of this entire thread and suggesting that someone else might actually be the "laughing stock," and you respond with this? Just admit you were wrong and too eager to buy the premise that conservatives always lie. Then let it go, hopefully having retained a take-away lesson. Yeah, unfortunately I didn't read this thread until it was already more than 100 posts long. Nobody had even bothered to investigate the claims that Arnold committed blatant lies in his speech. Instead, they were all too happy to be reinforced in their unflinching beliefs and kept drinking the kool-aid.