Lockyer criticizes arnie's leadership style - "odor of Austrian politics"

[Kadie]

CAMPAIGN 2006
Lockyer, Angelides first Democrats in governor's race
Carla Marinucci and Marc Sandalow, Chronicle Political Writers

Wednesday, March 16, 2005


State Attorney General Bill Lockyer and state Treasurer Phil Angelides became the first Democrats to say they will challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should the popular Republican governor run for re-election next year.

snip...
But Lockyer's comments, coming during a lunch with California reporters in Washington, D.C., caused the greater stir.

First, the attorney general said he plans to run for governor next year, adding "it's not a formal announcement, but that's what I'm working on."

Then, he criticized Schwarzenegger's leadership style, saying "I don't like to dwell on this. But it has a little bit of the sort of the odor of Austrian politics. There's a sort of arrogance of power that bothers me. You know, Arnold is still an Austrian citizen."

Asked pointedly if he were referring to Nazi-era Austria, the attorney general replied, "I'm just talking about the culture,'' he said, adding that there was a "long history from the Austria-Hungarian empire on, of sort of a more autocracy... it's a more elite system."

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/16/ANGELIDES.TMP

[liberalpragmatist]

1. Why'd he vote for him, then?

He said after the recall he voted "no" on the recall and "yes" on Arnold.

[Gyre]

2. Good luck with that one Bill!

Why don't you talk about how he's effed over the public school system, and attacked the teachers. Hit him where it hurts. Slurring him based on his native country is pretty low and irrelevant.

Gyre

[mitchtv]

4. Maybe he should have called him names

like scumbag or loser or sexual predator. or all of the above. Scumbag could, however, also refer to Bill Lockyer

[kineneb]

3. How soon we forget

Remember folks, Hitler was not a German...he was Austrian. A dirty little secret the Austrians would all like us to forget. And they do have a long autocratic tradition, even to their modern right "leaning" politics.

Ok, the slur was tacky, but not nearly as bad as the R's treatment of Arabic peoples.

[xxqqqzme]

5. sorry bill...U opening

your trap and letting us all know U voted 4 steroid boy finished U. I'm supporting Angelides.

[cyclezealot]

7. So Lockeyer voted for Arni..

Little late..Davis would have been term limited and Lockeyer would have been a shoe in had he backed the Democratic party..
At least he could have voted for Bustamante or better yet, Ariana Huffington.

[yurbud]

6. Kind of takes the edge off calling him a nazi

"He's a nazi, but I thought he would be one of the good ones."