A Gaffe from Arnold -- Michael

Thank heavens I'm never going to be a public figure.

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer

21 minutes ago

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for saying in a closed-door meeting that the mixture of Hispanic and black blood gives Puerto Ricans and Cubans "very hot" personalities.

The Republican governor said he cringed when he read his own words in the Los Angeles Times story on Friday and added that the comments, referring to a GOP legislator, were not "meant to be in any negative way." Some critics were outraged, but even some Democrats said his remarks appeared to be more playful than disparaging.

In fact, he probably meant it as a compliment. But politicians just can't talk like normal people.

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."

It helps a lot that the subject of the remark is being a good sport about 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."

I'll bet she is.

Schwarzenegger apologizes for remark

posted by Ace at 10:17 PM

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