Newport Beach, Calif. ? Maria Shriver gave a spirited defense of Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday, extolling her husband’s qualifications for governor as she brushed aside allegations of misbehavior.

“I wouldn’t be standing here if this man weren’t an A-plus human being,” the journalist and Kennedy family member told a lunch meeting of the California Women’s Leadership Assn.

“Arnold will come through it and we’ll be fine,” she told reporters. “I believe in him so strongly and I love him very much.”