Double Standard? LA Times released Schwarzenegger tape in '06

The Los Angeles Times released a tape of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.

This tape was full of candid comments by the governor and his aids talking about members of the state legislature and their looks. The Times had no problem releasing this tape, but when it comes to Barack Obama, they must protect him.

Here is an excerpt from the Sept. 8, 2006 LA Times article:

On the recording, Schwarzenegger’s Democratic chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, says Assembly Republican leader George Plescia of San Diego resembles a startled deer. That draws a chuckle from the Republican governor, who a moment earlier had referred to Plescia’s predecessor, Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, as “Bakersfield boy.”

But Kennedy offers praise for Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, the lone Latina Republican in the Legislature. The governor and Kennedy debate her ethnicity, and Schwarzenegger opines that whether she is Cuban or Puerto Rican doesn’t matter much.

“I mean, they are all very hot,” the governor says. “They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it.”

He goes on to recall a former weightlifter and competitor, Cuban-born Sergio Oliva. “He was like that,” Schwarzenegger says.

Garcia and McCarthy called the conversation irrelevant, even funny, when contacted by The Times on Thursday. Plescia had no comment.

Now, news organizations can and should protect their sources as the Times has said, but is there a double-standard?

If you would like to read this article click the link below:
Gov's Candid Moments Caught on Tape (LA Times)