Dan Walters: Schwarzenegger tape incident tarnished everyone involved

Sacramento Bee ^ | 9/18/6 | Dan Walters

[SmithL]

As it turned out, all of those involved in the infamous leakage of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recorded -- albeit private -- remarks about the proclivities of Republican legislators sullied themselves.

For those who have been out of touch for the past week -- or tuned out -- the Los Angeles Times published excerpts from a private conversation Schwarzenegger had last spring with some aides in which, among other things, he speculated about GOP Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia's ethnicity and added: "I mean, they are all very hot. They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."

Schwarzenegger's Democratic challenger, Phil Angelides, immediately jumped on the report, implying that the governor is harboring racist leanings. "Sadly, once again, Governor Schwarzenegger has made comments that are deeply offensive and that have embarrassed California," Angelides said. "This is part of a disturbing pattern of behavior. And a governor has an obligation to conduct himself with dignity."

Just as quickly, Schwarzenegger apologized, saying, "Anyone out there that feels offended by those comments, I just want to say I'm sorry, I apologize, because that was not the intention."

Garcia rushed to Schwarzenegger's defense, saying she didn't mind being described as hot-blooded, and then the story took another turn when the Angelides campaign admitted that its staffers had downloaded the remarks from a governor's office archive and leaked them to the Times -- touching off a still-unresolved flap over whether the material had inadvertently found its way into the public domain or was purloined by illicit hacking.

[Biblebelter]

There is more honor among the Sopranos than politicians, besides when made men meet they kiss and hug feeling each other up for wires although in that one episode the wire was in the rat's hat.

[dcrider182]

So Dan.. what your TRYING to say is..

"Hey!! look at me!! Look at me!!! Look what the Gov. said!.. HAHA!! don't elect him!! Here's what he said!!! Stop what your doing and HEAR IT AGAIN!!"

stfu already!! nobody cares.. even the girl he was talking about didn't care! when a story doesn't get picked up by society.. let it go man..

[robertpaulsen]

"They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them ..."

Is he talking about Sicilians?

"Hey, no, if eh, if eh, if you don't believe me, uh, you can look it up. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, uh, you see, uh, the Moors conquered Sicily."

[jackieaxe]

A private recording stolen to make the Govenator look bad (like he needs it). Also, it grates me they are beating him up for expressing a normal male thought and being A MAN.

[Amerigomag]

A private recording stolen

Did we miss something?