Governor (Davis) apologizes for his accent 'joke'

sacramento bee ^ | 9-11-03 | dan smith

[hoosierskypilot]

Battered for three days over a remark he made about Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian accent, Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday issued an apology for telling one voter that "you shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state." The remark, made Saturday as Davis left a union picnic at which he was campaigning against the Oct. 7 recall election, has drawn condemnation from a broad spectrum -- including the Schwarzen-egger campaign -- and a bipartisan demand for an apology from the state Senate.

[Keith]

...what an idiot...the necessity of recall personified.

[Keith]

"but Schwarzenegger brushed it off in public appearances, joking that his pronunciation of California was just one word Davis didn't like to hear. He doesn't like "blackouts," Schwarzenegger said. "He doesn't like 'energy crisis.' And he definitely doesn't like 'recall.' "

the man is a born politician...

[SpyGuy]

Davis' comment was stupid and childish. But I would not call it racist. It was simply a bad joke. We must not lower our intellect and "sensitivities" to the same levels as the DNC demagogues. Of course I am disgusted by the hypocrisy of the Left, but I think we should rise above the tactics of race-card baiting.

In fact, I suspect that the only reason the lamestream media has been hyping up this story for so many days is to keep the attention of the voters on this petty issue. We know they don't want to cover the real issues that are driving this recall.

[alloysteel]

Gray Davis is an insensitive clod, willing to point and laugh at what he considers to be the shortcomings in others. His Spanish ain't that good either.

If Davis fails in his bid to resist recall, he will have to adjust to the reality that should Cruz Bustamante succeed to the governor's chair, Mexican Spanish may be the mandatory legal language in all of Aztlan.

[Reeses]

the Schwarzen-egger campaign

I wonder if the odd hyphen was intentional.

[Saundra Duffy]

A certain conservative radio talk show host at KMJ in Fresno should apologize to Schwarzenegger, too, for making fun of his accent. I'm for McClintock but I don't like out-and-out ethnic bashing that's going on about Schwarzenegger.

[hoosierskypilot]

Gray Davis is an insensitive clod

Davis is what all leftist baby-boomer politicians are: elitists. They could care less about the causes they claim to champion. They are only interested in high-level, high-paying, zero demand jobs. If he weren't gov, he'd be the guy with the sign, "will work for food."

[Congressman Billybob]

No, Davis did NOT "apologize" for his anti-immigrant "joke." He pulled a Clinton on the subject. First Davis said he was "wrong" to have said that but refused to apologize. When asked about it again in a later interview, he said, "I have already apologized."

It is entirely appropriate that Bill Clinton is in California about now, campaigning for Davis. Davis is a liar like Clinton, and you have to parse his words VERY carefully to spot the lie. But Davis is not the world-class liar that Clinton is. So Davis will not survive like his "hero" did.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Paying the Wrong Piper," discussion thread on FR. Article also on ChronWatch.

[RoughDobermann]

Yes, I saw that too. Of course, that IS the correct way to pronounce his last name, though...

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Enough of the "I'm so humble" bit.

[DoctorZIn]

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[scabbage]

"you shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state."

Yeah, and you shouldn`t be Governor if your a light weight Forrest Gump looking-Clinton supported-special interest pandering at the drop of a hat-tax crazy schmuck.

[longshot1980]

Yet another shining example of the inherent, blatant and baffling racism of the Davi$-BustaMEChA cabal in Sacatomatoes. Lowbeam makes fun of Arnie's accent. BustaMEChA refers to black people as "N-dash-dash-dash-ERS"... can't you feel the love?

Oh, but Lowbeam and BustaMEChA are OK with letting illegal aliens and terrorists have drivers licenses, which means they're in touch with the common man.</sarcasm>

[george wythe]

.
Did McClintock's spokesman apologize for his remark ?

"If they've called us about getting out, maybe the message got lost in all the other phone calls we're getting," said John Feliz, McClintock's campaign director. "I think we're going to give Arnold a run for his money."

As for the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger's recent absence from the campaign trail, "I hear they're giving him English lessons," Feliz said.

[longshot1980]

Feliz is not running for governor, last I checked.

[george wythe]

Feliz is not running for governor, last I checked.

So is it OK for Davis' spokesman to ridicule Schwarzenegger's accent but not for Davis?

[Tempest]

Ughhhh . . . I'm ill after reading that.

[longshot1980]

I don't see where the comment made by McClintock's spokesman can be construed as ridicule. Plus there's a little of that nasty ol' "double standard" mixed in there as well. If you can't figure it out by now, you might as well throw in the towel.