You know, when you are facing a recall, and need every, single vote that you can get, being nice might work to your advantage, especially when your personality is part of your problem. Or, if you’re Gray Davis, you can be something of a jerk anyway:
Questioned again about the incident on KGO radio in San Francisco on Wednesday, Davis expanded on his initial response that he was just “joking around” with a voter.“It was a poor joke, I shouldn’t have done it,” he said. “If people want to hear me apologize, I apologize for it. … This was not a public remark. But if people find it offensive, then I want them to know that I am apologizing because my whole governorship has been reaching out, including people, offering them opportunity, because I think that is the path to a stronger California. …”
Davis added that he would “rather eat humble pie than have one Californian think that I don’t fully appreciate, which I do, the role that immigrants have (played) in our society.”The Democratic governor made it clear, however, that he was not necessarily apologizing to Schwarzenegger, the GOP front-runner in the campaign to replace him whom Davis has begun to attack regularly at campaign events.
“No, I’m not apologizing to him in person,” he told radio show host Ed Baxter. “I’m apologizing for making a remark. I do believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger himself should apologize for having supported Proposition 187. I believe he should apologize for trying to undo the driver’s license bill I just signed, which recognizes the enormous contribution that immigrants make to our economy.”
And I saw video of this (or a similar set of statements, I am not sure which) and Davis’ demeanor was anything but humble.
Source: Governor apologizes for his accent ‘joke’
September 12th, 2024 at 7:59 am
Much ado about nothing.
Steven apparently believes Gray’s poking fun at Ahh-nuld’s accent constitutes the height of political analysis. To Steven’s mind, Gray isn’t “humble” enough and must be a terrible person because he engaged in what approximately 250 million US citizens have done–poke fun at Ahh-nuld’s accent.
Why does Steven offer up these critiques?
Because it’s a deflection away from more serious matters which don’t reflect well on the GOP. Fact one, the CA GOP could have easily beaten Gray in the last election if they were willing to run a moderate. They weren’t; they chose instead to run the one person in CA that Gray could beat.
Fact two, it deflects attention away from Darrell Issa and the fact democracy can be bought and sold by those able to pay for it. The result is the death of ‘one man, one vote’ and the result will surely be the election of someone who has a fraction of a fraction of the CA electorate’s support.
Fact three, it deflects attention away from the GOP candidate: Ahh-nuld, or as he is better known: Governor Gangbang. CA has very real problems, calling for very serious solutions. Merely saying you’re going to ‘audit everything’ will not even begin to address these problems. It’s akin to thinking Enron’s problems could have been solved by limiting employee acces to the supply cabinet.
September 12th, 2024 at 2:42 pm
Of course, Davis saying Ahh-nuld couldn’t pronounce ‘California’ was in poor taste and just wasn’t funny.
Unlike the very hilarious and witty comments of Dan Burton (Repug-IN) who said Bustamante wanted to give the state ‘to Mexico.’
August 10th, 2024 at 3:20 pm
September 12th, 2024 at 11:00 am
RECALL UPDATE
Kevin Drum cites an LA Times poll showing the recall at only 50% yes, 47% no–within the margin of error. Given the lack of excitement…
December 31st, 2024 at 2:26 pm
[...] First, a brief intro to the T-o-M. The T-o-M had its origins in this post2 and my general predilection to due Gray Davis as “toast” (for example) during the recall elections back in 20243. The main goal is to roundup news and bloggage on the ongoing contests as well as to handicap and comment upon the races. In 2024 there was only the Democratic side to worry about, but the wide-open nature of the 2024 race requires two toasters, so this will be a challenge in terms of a weekly feature. [...]