| I wasn't going to wade into the whole Abel Maldonado story when it broke a couple of days ago with Maldonado saying this:
Hours after Schwarzenegger's appearance with Latino supporters, the state's highest-ranking Latino Republican, Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, questioned the governor's loyalty to Latinos.
"Our governor cares about one thing only, and that's Arnold Schwarzenegger," Maldonado said in a telephone interview requested by his staff.
Maldonado, who lost the Republican primary for state controller last month, said he was disappointed that the governor declined to support his candidacy.
At Schwarzenegger's request, Maldonado had sponsored a bill to raise the minimum wage, a move that irked conservatives in the primary. "I kind of felt like I got left holding the bag," Maldonado said.
The senator also said many Latinos thought Schwarzenegger had shown "a lack of respect" with the Latino community by spending too little time in Mexico. Schwarzenegger has visited Mexico twice as governor and plans to visit again before the election.
"When he needs Latinos, Latinos are always there for him," Maldonado said. "When Latinos need him, the answer's been no." (LA Times 7/12/06)
Sure, I thought it was funny on a number of levels, the biggest part being the fact that it was all true. But to me it was just a bitter pol who lost a primary election and just venting because he never got Arnold's endorsement. It is a bit humorous in the long run as well for the GOP, in a macabre sort of way. Maldonado would have fared far better in the general election against John Chiang than Tony Strickland will. Strickland is just too conservative and the fact that Maldonado was a Latino would have drawn indentity voters, especially on a down-ballot race that few voters care about.
But apparently now somebody has gotten to Maldonado to get him to eat his words.
"The governor and I have worked together for the past three years on important issues beneficial to California's Latinos," state Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria said in a statement released by his office. "I will continue to support the governor in his efforts to strengthen California."
***
Katie Levinson, communications director for the Schwarzenegger campaign, said: "The senator's apology is accepted."
Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said Maldonado's "original sentiments are more in line with where most California Latinos are. They feel abandoned and rejected by this governor." (LA Times 7/14/06)
It's almost like the mafia. You better not get off message, or you gets some strong suggestions to change your mind. Or you get Jon Fleischman calling you a baby, complete with crying baby clipart:
In the meantime, I guess we'll just have to roll our eyes and wait this out. Like parents who hear their child crying in the room next door, but know that the right thing to do is let their baby cry themselves to sleep.
Maldonado was right. Or as Bob Mulholland pointed out in Peter Schrag's book : "The four most insecure professions in the world are bodybuliders, psyciatrists, politicians, and actors, and Arnold is three of them." Indeed, Arnold cares about Arnold, and that's about it. |
