http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060908/ap_on_...DMzBHNlYwM3MDM-

Schwarzenegger apologizes for remark

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for saying during a closed-door meeting that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are naturally feisty and temperamental because of their combination of "black blood" and "Latino blood." He said the tape-recorded comments "made me cringe" when he read them in Friday's Los Angeles Times.

"Anyone out there that feels offended by those comments, I just want to say I'm sorry, I apologize," Schwarzenegger said. He added that if he heard his children make similar comments, "I would be upset."

The furor comes amid a re-election campaign in which the Republican has tried to mend fences with Democrats and moderates and look more statesmanlike and less like the swaggering action hero he played on screen. Schwarzenegger has a history of making off-the-cuff remarks that get him in trouble. He called California legislators "girlie men" and "losers" and talked of kicking nurses' butts.

During California's 2003 recall election, he was accused of groping or otherwise mistreating women on movie sets and other locations. He apologized for having "behaved badly sometimes."

The statements about Hispanics and blacks were captured on a six-minute tape made during a March 3 speechwriting session between Schwarzenegger and his advisers. On it, Schwarzenegger and chief of staff Susan Kennedy speak affectionately of state Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia and speculate about her nationality.

"I mean Cuban, Puerto-Rican, they are all very hot," the governor says on the recording. "They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."

Garcia, who is Puerto Rican, appeared with Schwarzenegger on Friday and said she was not offended by the governor's comments. Garcia earlier told the Times that she often calls herself a "hot-blooded Latina."

Schwarzenegger also said he called leaders from ethnic groups, who he said were not upset.

"All of them understood it was an off-the-record conversation," Schwarzenegger said. "It was not meant to be in any negative way."

A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez declined to comment directly on the remark but said the governor "has always been very respectful toward Latinos."

"These are hardly Nixon's Watergate tapes," Nunez spokesman Richard Stapler said.

However, Schwarzenegger's Democratic challenger, Phil Angelides, said the governor should "conduct himself with dignity."

"Once again, Gov. Schwarzenegger has used language that is deeply offensive to all Californians and embarrassed our state," Angelides said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger aides routinely tape his speechwriting sessions so the writers can keep a record of his thoughts and speaking patterns.

The newspaper did not say how the tape was obtained. The participants suggest during the meeting that they know they are being recorded.

Schwarzenegger is such an idiot. He should just keep his big mouth shut.

A good title for this thread would have been: Now what did he say . . .

I'm trying to not go too hard on Ahh-nold since CA passed the global warming legislation. At least he did something good.

Exactly. And to say everyone is always 100% politically correct in what they say would be a flat-out lie. People say things they don't mean.

This isn't the first time Schwarzenegger has put his foot in his mouth with some kind of stupid remark.

No, and I doubt it'll be the last.

People say stupid things all the time. They're human. Even politicians. What matters even more is how they follow up.

Compare the Bush response after Bush says something stupid to Ah-nolds response.

Ah-nold at least has some redeeming qualities.

Ahh-nold does seem to know enough to fess up to his mistakes and stupidity, which tends to take the wind out of the sails of the whole thing. I remember when he fessed up to the harrassment charges those women made a few years ago. He admitted to having done it, and he apologized and said it was a stupid thing to have done.

And I remember thinking that, if Clinton had just fessed up in the first place about Monica, the whole thing would've been handled very differently. Not that Ken Starr would have ever given up, but at least Clinton wouldn't have been put in the humiliating position of lying and all that followed that. I think he handled it all rather poorly, and he left the door wide open for attacks from the other side because of the way he responded to the charges.

As hard as it may be, just say yeah, I did it, it was stupid, it was wrong, and now let me get back to the business of being your president. Not sure how things would've played out after that, but I think it would've been preferable to the way it went.

You're right, Earthmother. I hadn't considered Bill Clinton's famous defense, "I did not have sex with that woman." That sure did stir up a lot of ill will. Among his defenders, which include myself, there was the general feeling of, "Come on, A-Hole, admit it and move on." But no, he had to parse it further and further, and the evasions leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

Of course, even if he had fessed up, Starr and the rightards would have kicked it up anther notch.

Reminds me of a recent quote attributed to Clinton:

"We're gonna get slammed for doing it or not doing it, so why not just do the right thing?"

I wonder how that might apply in the Lewinsky saga?

It's a great quote, and well worth remembering by whomever runs in '08.

As for what would have been right in the Lewinsky case, I have little doubt that the better course of action would have been to just come out and admit it (after he'd fessed to and dealt with Hillary).

No question Starr would have continued coming after him, but at least they wouldn't have been able to label him a liar in addition to a philanderer.

Yes it's true, we all say stupid things at times, but why is it whenever a republican says something stupid, which is quite often, it is some type of racist or bigoted remark??? There has been alot of that going on over the past five years.

Schwarzenegger...........redeeming qualities????? What redeeming qualities? If he has any, he sure keeps them hidden.