Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's Austrian-born governor, sat down with a German news magazine to offer a freewheeling assessment of the American political landscape.
Schwarzenegger told Der Spiegel on Friday that leaders of his California Republican Party were "just so out there," politically, that "I have almost no contact with them. None."
In his remarks, from a transcript published in English of an interview conducted partly in German, Schwarzenegger also said that delegates to the national conventions of both parties were "hard-core" and that Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, was "a good-looking woman." He praised the "incredible" candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat running for president. And he said he doesn't know whether his Los Angeles gardeners are legal immigrants.
His statements about California Republicans inflamed the moderate governor's already strained relationship with the more conservative GOP lawmakers. Assembly Republicans wore name tags to a meeting with Schwarzenegger about the state budget impasse Tuesday afternoon.
They engaged in some "very direct" discussion, and came out on good terms, said Assembly minority leader Mike Villines of Clovis.
"Maybe there was something in translation lost, or maybe he feels that way about some of the views that we have," Villines said. "I consider him a friend. Obviously we see the world differently in many ways." As for the name tags, he said, "You've got to have a sense of humor about this. . . . He's in our family, like it or not."
State Republican Chairman Ron Nehring said that he was "in constant contact with the governor's office on issues as they come up." But what about the governor? "I saw the governor today," Nehring said.
Schwarzenegger, in an interview Tuesday afternoon with The Times, said his remarks came in response to a question from Der Spiegel about why his message of bipartisanship would not have been well-received by conservative-minded delegates at the Republican convention. The governor skipped the convention to deal with the budget.
"I think that everyone knows that I'm not a typical Republican because I'm much more in the middle," the governor said. But when it comes to California issues, he said, he has "a very good relationship" with Republican political leaders.
