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Welcome to Gov. Schwarzenegger's California

The day after Schwarzenegger told the La Opinion editorial board that he thinks his vote on Prop 187 in 1994 was "the wrong decision," he ventured out of his Sacramento-Beverly Hills bubble to mingle with Republican voters in Southern California. A woman who belongs to the Minutemen border patrol group -- yep, the same one the Governor has praised as "terrific" -- launched into a tirade about immigration. It seems the "intense prejudice" swirling around the immigration issue -- the prejudice that folks of color deal with every day -- has somehow escaped our governor's attention until now. From The Chron:

The questioning on immigration dominated a morning town hall meeting in La Mesa, just miles from the Mexican border in San Diego County, where some voters were outspoken in their anger with the governor on the matter.

"The illegals hop over our fence ... and they get medical, they get everything free,'' said one woman who would identify herself only as Sally, an activist with the Minutemen organization. "Right now, I don't see much difference between you and (Democratic gubernatorial candidate) Phil Angelides ... I don't see where you're standing up for the citizens of California.''

An unidentified town hall attendee said: "I want my country back.''

Later, according to an AP account of the exchange, Schwarzenegger reacted to reporters:

Afterward, Schwarzenegger told reporters he was troubled by some of the comments and surprised by their tone.

"It was pretty much the first time I saw the intensity of prejudice," Schwarzenegger, an immigrant himself, said. "This one woman came up to me and said, 'Stop the invasion.' It was that kind of dialogue, and not 'Hey, is there something we can do about immigration?' And I think that's going into a dangerous area."

It's amazing that Schwarzenegger can get away with this dopey, "How did I get here?" schtick. I mean, come on. He is running the largest state in the nation, and the 5th largest economy in the world. He is surrounded by people who have successfully co-opted the entire U.S. government. Are we really supposed to believe that he just fell off the turnip truck? As Bill Cavala noted today, Schwarzenegger need not look any farther than his party's own nominee for U.S. Senator, Dick Mountjoy, for the same kind of racist, xenophobic rhetoric on immigration he encountered yesterday outside of San Diego.

We all know that the immigration debate coming out of the Republican party is fueled with racism. We understand that this is a problem for those Republicans who are also trying to win a portion of the ever-critical Latino swing vote. Schwarzenegger's response thus far seems to be to play dumb. We'll see how far that gets him. Luckily, Angelides knows exactly where he stands on immigration, and that is not only the right position, it will win him favor with progressive Democrats and with Latinos. Angelides will be well-served if he can make immigration a central part of this Governor's race. It's an important issue to bring to the surface, and it will force Schwarzenegger to deal with the racism that his California is allowing to fester.

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