Arnold and Maria, proof that bedfellows make strange politics:
After all, Shriver would be breaking family ranks no matter where she came down on the measures, Democratic and Republican activists say. As a Democrat and a Kennedy, they say, she would have to all but shape-shift to endorse proposals despised by the party that counts three of her uncles as icons.
And if she were to publicly criticize the initiatives, things presumably would get chilly on the home front.
"It's a lose-lose for her," said Republican consultant Kevin Spillane. "She has my sympathy."
Some might find it hard to understand such relationships (Mary Matlin and James Carville are another example, although in that case it's the woman who is the sensible one). Not me. I have a friend who lives in Chicago now. She's even further left than I am right. When she lived in Fort Wayne, almost every lengthy conversation we had ended at the same argument, with me insisting that the government had obviously gotten too big and intrusive and she insisting that the government obviously didn't do enough for people. Such disagreements, between people who know their own minds and aren't afraid to defend their beliefs, can add spice to a relationship. You just need to know when to give it a rest and go watch a movie.
