Department of Cheap Shots

by Brian on September 8, 2003

From the campaign trail:

bq. Schwarzenegger, campaigning in a heavily Hispanic Los Angeles suburb, said his pronunciation of “California” was just one of the words Davis didn’t like to hear. “He doesn’t like ‘lost jobs,’ he doesn’t like that word,” Schwarzenegger said.

Of course, Arnie comes out of this exchange looking much better than Gray Davis, whose pathetic appeal to anti-immigrant sentiment started it all. Davis should be feeling ashamed of himself, but instead he’s reverting to the time-dishonoured ‘it was all a joke’ defence.

{ 6 comments }

1

Robert Tagorda 09.08.03 at 6:10 pm

Excellent point. Now the question is, of course: What are California Democratic leaders such as Bill Lockyer going to do, since they had warned Davis to avoid “puke politics” — or else?

2

Ted Barlow 09.08.03 at 8:46 pm

This is completely unacceptable. I can’t remember who said it, but I saw a great quote about Davis: “There’s no middle ground on Gray Davis. Either you hate him, or you really dislike him.”

3

dave 09.08.03 at 9:14 pm

Of course, Arnie comes out of this exchange looking much better than Gray Davis…

Not really – Ahnold still looks like an idiot, especially in this obviously-scripted, forced “ad-lib.”

Of course, Davis could put the whole issue to bed quickly if he said “Did I say you shouldn’t be governor if you can’t pronounce California? I meant you shouldn’t be governor if you can’t spell California!”

Anyway, the Davis comment is getting very little play here, beyond the usual wingnut outlets.

4

Kynn Bartlett 09.08.03 at 10:55 pm

Davis should be feeling ashamed of himself, but instead he’s reverting to the time-dishonoured ‘it was all a joke’ defence.

Well, was it a joke?

How about Arnold bashing on Bustamante for being bald?

–Kynn

5

Jay Caruso 09.09.03 at 3:38 pm

What in the world does making bald jokes have to do with making ‘jokes’ about immigrant accents?

6

Ted Barlow 09.09.03 at 5:51 pm

Kynn,

Arnold’s bald joke is childish. But there’s not much more that you can say about it.

Davis, on the other hand, is appealing to a prejudice that we’ve got to outgrow- the idea that a foreign-born person, no matter how long they’ve been here or how much they embrace the United States, is something different than a “real American.” It’s a deeply unamerican idea, and he should apologize (if he hasn’t already).

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