Schwarzenegger Apologizes Over Remark

Associated Press ^ | Sep 08, 2006 | MICHAEL R. BLOOD

[ConservativeMind]

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 statements 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," said Schwarzenegger, a Republican running for re-election in November. "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.

[ConservativeMind]

Well, this may just do him in.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I mean Cuban, Puerto-Rican, they are all very hot

I have to disagree with the generalization. I mean, Jennifer Lopez is very hot. But Rosie Perez does nothing for me.

[AD from SpringBay]

Eugenics - alive and well! You can take the boy out of Austria, but...

[Kitten Festival]

Does it occur to Arnie that when one says 'Latino' blood, as it applies to Boricuas and Cubans, that it's already a combination of 'black' and 'white'? Adding the 'black' to the "latino' is redundant.

[StopDemocratsDotCom]

This is ridiculous, Arnold is right. I am Cuban-born and I was not offended at all by the comment. He's still got my vote.

[Niteranger68]

I mean, Jennifer Lopez is very hot

Eww....

[Kitten Festival]

Does it occur to Arnie that he, too, is feisty and tempermental? And how would he explain stolid Mexicans if Latinos are supposedly hot and tempermental? Mexicans are as stolid and prim and proper as they come. Cubans are feisty in the sense that they speak fast, party well and have a lively culture, but how the hell would the grim, humorless, goat-footed Fidel Castro, never a smile on his hateful face, count as hot and feisty? Castro is a brutal leftist thug and caudillo, of no passion whatsoever.

[Kitten Festival]

Mine too. He's a schmuck but we already knew that. We know what he meant, he's not a bad guy and shouldn't be taken down by the political correctness police. We should scold him on other things, like the budget and unions and global warming. But I still plan to vote for him, he's better than the corrupt leftist despicable alternative.

[swain_forkbeard]

I agree. And well past her prime. She must have gained weight, because I never see her on TV anymore.

Oh boy, did Ben ever almost make a mistake bigger than...

[twigs]

Eugenics? He's not proposing to kill them! I think he's right and I suspect my husband does too. His first wife, now deceased, was Italian. I am of English extraction. He tells me there's all the difference in the world between the hot-blooded southern Mediterraneans and the cool northern Europeans. The temperament is very, very different. Both wives had/have a temper, but our expression of it is very different.

[cvq3842]

It's a dumb thing to say.

[NormsRevenge]

Just asked to have same info with following ap title yanked.

CA: Governor apologizes for calling Cubans, Puerto Ricans "very hot" on tape

Thanks for posting update.

[Jeff Chandler]

Both wives had/have a temper, but our expression of it is very different.

Here's the difference: When her husband strays, an Italian woman will grab a vase and clobber him with it. When her husband strays, an English woman will grab a solicitor (lawyer) and clobber him with it.

[Niteranger68]

Oh boy, did Ben ever almost make a mistake bigger than...

I actually think they deserved each other.

[John Jorsett]

Eugenics - alive and well! You can take the boy out of Austria, but...

Wouldn't attribution of "master race" sentiments to someone of Germanic heritage be a stereotype in itself?

[Marysecretary]

Italians can be hot and temperamental. Middle Easterners can be hot and temperamental. Norwegians, no--too cold (smile). M

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

LOL....i saw a pic of j-lo without make-up...all i can say is ewwwww!!!!

[Labyrinthos]

"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."

Seems to me that he started out to say that Latin women make him very hot, and then he remembered he's married to someone who isn't Latin and has a face like a Springer Spaniel, and then tried to change course in mid-explanation, only to dig himself a bigger hole. (For the record, I also think Cuban and Puerto Rican ladies are very hot.)

[NormsRevenge]

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Palm Springs, left, listen to questions from members of the media during a news conference in Santa Monica, Calif., Friday, Sept. 8, 2006. 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.' Garcia said she was not offended by the governor's comments. Garcia earlier told the Los Angeles Times that she often calls herself a 'hot-blooded Latina.' (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

[colorado tanker]

Hey, I find Latinas hot. Most don't mind dressing sexy. Way hotter than dessicated, sour European-American feminists.