Not so "hot", Arnold

[n2doc]

Erin Aubry Kaplan: Not So 'Hot,' Arnold
Why are so many politicians of color casually dismissing the governor's racist comments?
September 13, 2006

WARNING: THE column you are about to read is hot. Real hot. McDonald's-drive-through-scalding-coffee-see-you-in-court hot. Given the state of the world, which erodes almost daily because of the seemingly unlimited ineptitude of certain politicians, steamy has been my default state of mind for many years now. The latest fuel on my fire is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's tape-recorded assertion last week that Latina women with black blood are "very hot." He has no idea.

Let's be clear: This was not a compliment. His supporters may argue that Schwarzenegger was expressing a kind of admiration for feisty women of color, but there is a strong current of crudeness, lewdness and racial fecklessness in his remarks that also marred his career as an actor and bodybuilder. And the governor's prompt apology, offered to "anyone out there that feels offended by these comments," doesn't exactly make up for it. Reading his analysis that Cubans and Puerto Ricans "have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it," I got not a glow but a chill. Allegations and anecdotes reported three years ago of groping, sexual harassment and racist incidents came back to me in a rush.

I especially recalled — with a cringe more intense than Arnold's, I assure you — the story Schwarzenegger himself told a porn magazine in 1977 about how he and other bodybuilders "jumped" on a black woman at Gold's Gym in Venice; asked if it was a "gang bang," he said yes. The colonialist notion that blacks, especially mulatto women, are notable only for their sexual prowess and availability is hardly new — which is why it's so disturbing to detect it in the remarks of the governor of California in 2006. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Even more uninspiring is the so-what response by some Latino and black politicians to this whole affair. Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia of Cathedral City, the Puerto Rican lawmaker who was the subject of his remarks, is a Republican before she's a Latina, so she can be expected to accept (or decline as unnecessary) his apology.

But it's discouraging to see Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier) blow off any negative implications of Arnold's remarks. Is the price of success for Latinos the sense of ethnic identity and common destiny that fueled their rise in the first place? The black acquiescence bothers me even more — because we know what Arnold meant. The media led with the Latino angle, but the governor's most incendiary comment was that it's "black blood" that makes the difference. Such a worldview calls to mind Jim Crow, the Southern legal system based on strict percentages of "black blood" — also known as the one-drop rule — that segregated public facilities and governed daily life for much of the 20th century. His supporters will protest that the governor was referring to positive differences, like the edge blacks have over everybody else on the dance floor or the basketball court. Uh-huh. Let's just say that certain praises are better left unsung, especially by public figures with a past like Arnold's.

more:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kaplan13sep13,0,217675.column

[1932]

1. I think this is spin. I thought Cruz Bustamante's response burned Arnold

but it would be easy to spin it.

So I don't know if I belived the LA Time's interpretation of latino politicians' responses to Arnodl.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Lampshade Republicans

Arnold wasn't expressing hatred; he was expressing his vulgarity. And therein lies the difference.

Ignorant vulgarity usually doesn't make people as mad as expressing hatred does. So the Governator gets a half-pass for his remarks this time. But it's sinking in, little by little, that the man is puerile and lacks the maturity demanded of people with political power (like governors). Because when he gets going, he acts like a butt-pinching frat-boy with half a load on from chugging near-beer.

I'm not one of those critics of Schwarzenegger who thinks he's the worst thing to ever happen to California. For example, he's not nearly as willfully destructive as Ronald Reagan was. And he's capable of understanding the basic functions of government. Clearly, he's way below standards (though probably not for Republicans), but he's not a total loss -- merely a serious underachiever. Whatever his physical stature, he's a small man who thinks that a leering eye and a big cigar can make up for what he lacks in dignity. Most of this pettiness comes from his lust to flaunt power and to be "Politically Incorrect". We could, and probably should, expect him to moon the camera and light a fart during one of his forthcoming State of the State speeches.

And I hope no one mistakes this for some kind of "endorsement" of AH. Unvarnished public expressions of hatred are rare; the norm, especially for "lampshade Republicans", is vulgarity, like Sen. George Allen's recent use of the word "macaca". And Allen is now losing his race for re-election. Schwarzenegger should likewise be retired from his service in Sac'to. He's the same kind of pint-sized pretender that George Bush is, only without the obvious intellectual deficits and access to military force that distinguish the "prez'nit".

How quickly can the good people of California send this back-slapping ass-clowning back to Hollyweird?

--p!