Arnold’s Veto Message: An F*** You to S.F. Lawmaker?
EmailArnold gives as good as he gets. My colleague, ABC News' Teddy Davis has more: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is raising eyebrows in California for issuing a veto message that spells out "f*** you" in the left-hand margin of the page. The former action star's f*** you message came when he rejected Assembly Bill 1176, legislation which would have expanded the financing powers of the Port of San Francisco. The bill was unobjectionable to legislators of both parties: it sailed through the Assembly and state Senate on unanimous votes. It was vetoed, however, by Schwarzenegger who said in his message that he considers it "unnecessary" to sign the bill at this time because another year has gone by without the legislature tackling big issues such as water reform, prison reform, and health care. While the surface-level message is one often articulated by Schwarzenegger, if you look down the left margin of the page, the first word begins with the letter "f" and the last ends with the letter "u." Read the veto message HERE. The sponsor of the bill was Tom Ammiano, a Democratic member of the State Assembly who recently heckled Schwarzenegger when the governor made a surprise drop-in at a San Francisco Democratic Party fundraiser. As previously reported by ABC-7 in San Francisco, Ammiano shouted "you lie!" to Schwarzenegger during the event at the Fairmont Hotel, before adding: "kiss my gay ass" as he walked out. Ammiano, who said afterwards that he has no regrets, was upset with Schwarzenegger about the impact that his budget cuts have had on people in San Francisco. Although it's hard to imagine that the double message was not intentional, Schwarzenegger's spokesman is maintaining that it was just an innocent accident. "It was a weird coincidence. We looked at other veto messages and saw the left margins spelled things like 'soap' and 'ear.' Weird," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear told ABC News. The double message was first discovered by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.Watch it HERE.
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Interesting….but I doubt it was intentional.
Posted by: SimplyAmazed | October 28, 2009, 7:44 am 7:44 am
I’m not an Arnold fan but I gotta say Kudos for orginality. Pifft, and they thought he was just a dumb Austrian bodybuilder!
Posted by: Trent | October 28, 2009, 7:51 am 7:51 am
George – this is the most interesting and important item in politics to cover? What about the Dems losing battle over the Public Option? And people say FOX News is bad… geeze.
Posted by: GetaGrip | October 28, 2009, 7:53 am 7:53 am
If this was intentional, the the Calif. Gov. is much smarter than I thought. Other than that, the people examining veto responses looking for “hidden messages” need to get a life.
Posted by: NFH | October 28, 2009, 8:02 am 8:02 am
Well that is one way to veto!!!
Posted by: jenny | October 28, 2009, 8:06 am 8:06 am
LOL …That’s classic! talk about your “Freudian Slips”! hilarious …
Posted by: 1enlightened | October 28, 2009, 8:12 am 8:12 am
I believe CNN is doing an investigation into the spelling and meaning of each word in this veto. Go Arnold
Posted by: jeff | October 28, 2009, 8:16 am 8:16 am
If read backwards, this memo also confirms the 2012 apocalypse, a 2nd shooter on the grassy knoll, GWB’s fingerprints on 9/11 and the secret to the Jonas Brothers success. Touche Mr. Schwarzenegger, nicely played.
Posted by: factotum1 | October 28, 2009, 8:16 am 8:16 am
He is correct Claifornia has other problems that these dimwits need to solve 1st
Posted by: Flip Floppin | October 28, 2009, 8:45 am 8:45 am
Like grammar in the state run education.
Posted by: CW | October 28, 2009, 8:54 am 8:54 am
OK ABC… I know times are hard and you got to stir up the ol pot-of-interest and all… but THIS is really reaching out there…
Posted by: RUKiddingMe | October 28, 2009, 8:57 am 8:57 am
This is a classic document. I hope Hollywood can incorporate it in the next National Treasure 3 script. Kudos to Arnold on focusing on the priorities first and I hope that includes education too.
Posted by: William | October 28, 2009, 9:12 am 9:12 am
This is different but shows the problem in politics they do not want to work together.
In fact it carries over into the work place you see clicks formed on teams sad and this destroies the value of the team.
No wonder America can’t compete.
Posted by: ant | October 28, 2009, 9:14 am 9:14 am
Hilarious that Arnold would call-out the weak CA legislature for what they are. No wonder CA is in financial trouble. They don’t know the word ‘NO’.
It’s weakness like this that has taken over in DC and is trying to bankrupt our country, giving everything away that others (the middle class) will pay for, dearly, and likely in the form of a 50-60% income tax.
Good for Arnold. If Conservatives in DC had such chutzpah, we’d wouldn’t be bailing out fools with no intention of paying us back, promoting a multi-trillion $ healthcare plan or dilly-dallying over Afghanistan.
In the USA, we fight to win. This post is taking on a different slant, but let’s shut down the Mexican border, fight to win in Afghanistan, empower more healthcare companies to compete to reduce costs – with strong laws against company mis-deeds, reduce taxes on businesses to allow them to expand, grow, create jobs, and generate prosperity in America.
Posted by: Shanker | October 28, 2009, 9:15 am 9:15 am
You’ve got to be joking!
I would read the statement a hundred times, and not find the cryptic phrase.
Who invents this stuff?
Posted by: Bob Hobbs | October 28, 2009, 9:19 am 9:19 am
Some one some where has too much time on their hands.
Posted by: ML | October 28, 2009, 9:21 am 9:21 am
Why are you covering this when the Health Care Bill is more important? Fox news is covering real news, as is Yahoo news. Oh, I know why, it’s because the Dems are cracking apart in their support. I get it!
Posted by: livininindy | October 28, 2009, 9:21 am 9:21 am
Hilarious. Go Arnold.
Posted by: KC | October 28, 2009, 9:25 am 9:25 am
Frankly under circumstances Kentucky alumnus Larry Little said Friday Fox
and God Save!
Posted by: David Adam | October 28, 2009, 9:29 am 9:29 am
Whether intentional or not, it’s damn funny. Good on him!
Posted by: CMS Critic | October 28, 2009, 9:30 am 9:30 am
clever!
Posted by: LongT | October 28, 2009, 9:32 am 9:32 am
OH MY GOD — Of course is WAS intentional. Well done Arnie — well done. I knew I liked you.
Posted by: Gauston in DC | October 28, 2009, 9:33 am 9:33 am
This is the ONLY thing I’ve enjoyed from Arnold since T2. Though I doubt he or anyone in his admin. would have the wit for it. My pulled-from-thin-air theory would be the language of the memo was suggested by Willie Brown who was visibly embarrassed and angry with Ammianos vulgar display.
Posted by: treborsf | October 28, 2009, 9:34 am 9:34 am
This is news??????
Posted by: sammy | October 28, 2009, 9:57 am 9:57 am
Well I guess that is one way to “terminate” a piece of legislation not to your liking.
Posted by: CND FOX | October 28, 2009, 10:20 am 10:20 am
Someone has too much time on their hands… either the Governor or the recipients of the letter.
Posted by: ellsbells930 | October 28, 2009, 10:20 am 10:20 am
I just saw this on Fox News so it must be true now. Fox wouldn’t make things up. Would Fox???
Posted by: FoxIsFakeNews | October 28, 2009, 10:23 am 10:23 am
Turns out Arnold’s a typical passive-aggressive girly man.
Posted by: Yukon Sam | October 28, 2009, 10:26 am 10:26 am
Well if it was intentional they got the message if not to bad they got it anyway thats bad ###.
Posted by: sackett | October 28, 2009, 10:30 am 10:30 am
REALLY? please tell me this is a joke.
Aren’t there more important things going on that some paranoid crap?
If it was intentional (highly unlikely) GO ARNOLD!
Posted by: Jenna McCoy | October 28, 2009, 10:31 am 10:31 am
Oh come on, it had to be intentional. What are the odds? This is a hoot. Go Arnie!
Posted by: Secondlook | October 28, 2009, 10:34 am 10:34 am
George, give me a break… Tell me something important; I want to know that Reid’s ramrod job is failing…
Go Arnold!
Joe Publik
Posted by: JoeJoker | October 28, 2009, 10:42 am 10:42 am
This could be the aftermath of his wife parking in a restricted zone. Arnold is Fed Up.
Posted by: Lenovo67 | October 28, 2009, 10:44 am 10:44 am
Awesome, Arnold please move to Illinois and run for Gov.
Posted by: blh643 | October 28, 2009, 10:52 am 10:52 am
Your objective, undeniably perfect, expression of public lunacy equals anything Republicans ever could reasonably articulate!!!
ZY
Posted by: Zebulon Yates | October 28, 2009, 10:57 am 10:57 am
don’t they have anything better to do with their time than look for something as trivial as that!!!! please!!!!
Posted by: ann | October 28, 2009, 11:05 am 11:05 am
Arnold is one of the (very) few Republicans I actually like. I love the “hidden message” wheather or not it was intentional. What I don’t understand is: Who on earth had time to decifer this thing? Don’t they have anything else better to do?
Posted by: yvonneh120952 | October 28, 2009, 11:09 am 11:09 am
California citizens better start working as a cohesive force instead of hundreds and hundreds of special interest groups. Food, jobs, shelter, clothing – all else should be lower on the list.
Posted by: Pete | October 28, 2009, 11:10 am 11:10 am
That was merely a coincidence, obviously. Only a major idiot with way too much time on their hands would think otherwise.
Posted by: Scorpio Redhead | October 28, 2009, 11:11 am 11:11 am
If it was intentional, it’s brilliant. Personally, I’d like to see a lot more public figures saying f you to their a hole critics, especially the Democrats.
Posted by: David Riker | October 28, 2009, 11:12 am 11:12 am
Even if it was intentional, who cares? To focus on this shows how superficial people are. Now go do some real work.
Posted by: Tyrone | October 28, 2009, 11:13 am 11:13 am
“…if you look down the left margin of the page, the first word begins with the letter “f” and the last ends with the letter “u.”
Complete hogwash.
Not a single word in the memo ends in the letter “u”.
Posted by: DagnerMouse | October 28, 2009, 11:13 am 11:13 am
Trent, ” they thought he was just a dumb Austrian bodybuilder!”
And they were right.
Posted by: JR | October 28, 2009, 11:25 am 11:25 am
Ammiano ought to have his behindular region kicked all the way back to where he came from. Democrat or Republican, all legislators need to learn how to comport themselves. There is a time and a place for dissent – and at NO time should name-calling be acceptable. Use your “civil” words, people!
Posted by: dlh | October 28, 2009, 11:26 am 11:26 am
Way to go Arnold !
If you seek amy … runnin’ …
Posted by: LMAO | October 28, 2009, 11:28 am 11:28 am
go Arnold. my sentiments exactly, accidental or not!! save from the clueless far left out there!!!
Posted by: Big G | October 28, 2009, 11:30 am 11:30 am
Approximate odds of that sequence of letters popping up by accident are one in 4.5 billion. Arnold was having a little snit. Weak.
Posted by: Yukon Sam | October 28, 2009, 11:31 am 11:31 am
SERIOUSLY???? THIS made NEWS?? With a child being gang-raped for 2.5 hours in California, THIS is WHAT people find interesting and newsworthy? Change the font and it alters word placement. That goverment officials even TYPE THEIR OWN LETTERS??? Come on….
Posted by: TT | October 28, 2009, 11:33 am 11:33 am
I think it’s great. I’m not a republican but I love Arnold. He appears to be the real deal from his “girlie men” comment to this veto letter. Good on you Arnie, good on you! You told those politicians what we all want to tell those clowns in Washington. Could you send that letter to the senate?
Posted by: Dianna | October 28, 2009, 11:42 am 11:42 am
so how about b.h.o., the ‘anointed one’ (small letters purposeful) flippin Hillary the bird during one of their debates. Where was the outrage over that first of many signs of immaturity of our current president-despot-wannabe?
Posted by: realman1963 | October 28, 2009, 11:50 am 11:50 am
That had to be be intentional! Although,probably written by someone other than Arnold, with his knowledge of course. I’m glad it was aimed at Ammiano. I can’t stand that little whiner..
Posted by: Snickerdoodle | October 28, 2009, 11:52 am 11:52 am
It’s not really difficult to construct messages like this so if Governor Schwartzenegger meant to put it in he could have. But if so I think it was on the mark. California insists on pursuing unnecessary and overly-PC legislation and trying to impose it on everybody else, while ignoring more fundamental problems and counting on Federal legislation and money to cover them.
Posted by: Publius | October 28, 2009, 12:00 pm 12:00 pm
Second the guv’s motion.
Posted by: Hank Vreeland | October 28, 2009, 12:00 pm 12:00 pm
Come on… do you really believe this? Jesus, then we all should believe in ghosts.
Posted by: neurona | October 28, 2009, 12:02 pm 12:02 pm
Mr. Ammianos and the governor should both be ashamed of themselves for their respective actions. I guess they have proven that gay legislators can be just as nasty as straight ones, and governors can be just as nasty as legislators. And in the meantime, all of California pays for their stupidity and lack of urgency in dealing with the things that have real impact on Californians. Knock it off, you clowns, and do the business we pay you for!
Posted by: birdlady | October 28, 2009, 12:05 pm 12:05 pm
Hilarious. If it was intentional, it is great to see a Republican with a sense of humor.
Posted by: Catherine | October 28, 2009, 12:26 pm 12:26 pm
I expect better news content from ABC News than this sensationalized fluff. I thought I was looking at a FOX news website.
You guys at ABC can do better than this.
Posted by: DCinDFW | October 28, 2009, 12:29 pm 12:29 pm
@livininindy – Well … because it makes for a good laugh – as opposed to all the other “dire” news – “widely” available. Don’t worry – “bad news” isn’t going anywhere – there’ll be plenty more to be angry and depressed about tomorrow …
Posted by: 1enlightened | October 28, 2009, 12:37 pm 12:37 pm
There was a similar (& legendary) stunt pulled in the 1983 Georgetown Prep yearbook on a graduating senior’s personal page. Maria Shriver’s brother Anthony was in the class of ’84 IIRC. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Posted by: J Hull | October 28, 2009, 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
George, you made my day. Laughed out loud when I read the governator’s message to the legislature. I want to believe it was intentional.
Posted by: Brew | October 28, 2009, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
My partner in my law firm used to do that…of course it was intentional…can’t spell that accidentally.
Posted by: alr774 | October 28, 2009, 1:22 pm 1:22 pm
So Arnold wastes the legislature’s time overriding his veto and the cycle starts all over again. Real mature Arnold.
Posted by: Greggw | October 28, 2009, 2:09 pm 2:09 pm
Oh my God!! Can we say tiny little minds working very hard to find inane stuff to contrive for the sake of whining and mud slinging? Get a life, get some brains and grow up!! Is this really worth any press? Even if the Governor meant it, so what?
Posted by: Dee | October 28, 2009, 2:24 pm 2:24 pm
Posted by: treborsf | Oct 28, 2009 9:34:15 AM……..so your saying you did not like “Rise of the Machines” T3
Posted by: coastlinecascott | October 28, 2009, 2:46 pm 2:46 pm
It’s quite clever, actually. The letter, in and of itself, is not partisan. He’s telling these people that Californians expect them to do their jobs and that these are real issues. That he was able to weave a side note there was genius. Good for him. I’m a Democrat, but I’ll suport any elected person trying to do the job we pay them for.
Posted by: Julia | October 28, 2009, 3:57 pm 3:57 pm
Too bad Arnold can’t run for president. I’d vote for him!
Posted by: puddermac | October 28, 2009, 4:08 pm 4:08 pm
Intentional or not, it’s funny!!
Posted by: JaylahPriest | October 28, 2009, 5:51 pm 5:51 pm
An acrostic Govenor
Who would have thunk it
Everybody should applaud
So why get upset
How original can he be
Under such leadership
Can’t we strive to rise
Know that the man is for real
So let’s up with Arnold
Posted by: Gerald Zollar | October 28, 2009, 6:43 pm 6:43 pm
Tom Ammiano should be forced to apologize to Arnold for his disrespectful comments. How dare the Democrats not go along with the Republican governor. They must be prejudiced against weightlifters.
Posted by: Cal furstrated | October 28, 2009, 8:13 pm 8:13 pm
LOVE IT
Posted by: d | October 28, 2009, 9:34 pm 9:34 pm
The deal is that you need to take a LOT into account, some of the variables are:
1) percentage that a letter would appear at the beginning of a line.
2) 85 characters per line.
3) percentage that a word would be used in a sentence.
4) 7 lines.
5) percentage that all words in the previous sentence would be exactly the correct length.
but the most damning of all when it comes to the likelihood that this would be random would be
6) the percentage that a republican would not abuse his power in a personal vendetta.
That pretty much makes the odds go from astronomical to absolutely impossible.
Posted by: Jim | October 28, 2009, 9:56 pm 9:56 pm
Interesting how none of the media have mentioned that this California assemblyman kept yelling “liar” while Arnold was speaking. That is being overlooked while only mentioning the veto message.
Posted by: HarrisonGT | October 28, 2009, 10:54 pm 10:54 pm
Can someone make few more copies and resend them to the dirt bag Tom Ammiano.
He and others, including Arnold, have nothing better to do in Sacramento. The only thing they do best is wasting our money!!!!
Posted by: leftist1 | October 28, 2009, 11:08 pm 11:08 pm
Part of my training in science has been a study of the theory of error. Since there are 26 different letters of the alphabet, there is 1/26th of a chance that the first will be “f”, 1/26th that the second will be “u” and so on. So, the chance that the seven specific letters will appear in that specific order are:
1/26 x 1/26 x 1/26 x 1/26 x 1/26 x 1/26 x 1/26 or (1/26)^7 = 1/8,031,810,176 or, with rounding, one chance in eight million that it’s random!
And if you look at the actual document, note that there are no other letters before or after the offending seven. Since we have no examples of other notes we’d have to guess: what are the chances of having exactly seven lines, no more, no less? If seven lines is unusual, which I suspect since (at least in the MD legislature) there’s usually more cover-my-butt explanations on veto messages, the odds are probably closer to one in a billion.
Since the total number of such messages Arnold would send to the legislature are likely to be on the order of hundreds or thousands of vetoes at the most, it is extremely unlikely that this is a random event.
That said, I read the document and have to congratulate the governor’s writers for crafting a document where the words don’t seem “forced” to fit the desired effect!
But what was Arnold doing at a Dem. fundraiser? That’s really bad protocol, even if his wife is a Democrat.
Posted by: The_Mick | October 28, 2009, 11:27 pm 11:27 pm
Whoops – I misread the number in my last post, thought the numeric calculation is correct as shown – it’s one chance in eight BILLION, not million, that’s it random!
Posted by: The_Mick | October 28, 2009, 11:40 pm 11:40 pm
Probability of getting the first letter randomly equal to “F” is 1/26. Probability of getting all correct accidentally is (1/26)^7 is 10 billion to 1. Coincidence? Look up the phrase “Acrostic” on wikipedia !!
Posted by: badcafe | October 29, 2009, 12:01 am 12:01 am
Well if this is what the WH means by a real news story then we are in bigger trouble then any of us ever thought. So is this the kind of story that was vetted by the WH first! I know it is one that was not carried by Fox news so way to go ABC your in step with the new WH news reporting guild lines.
Posted by: Stills_stinks | October 29, 2009, 2:27 am 2:27 am
Oh? Really! A hidden message? I am a California State Employee Rank and File Office Assistant. Every payday I open up and read my check and it has the exact same message.
Posted by: johnqcivilservant | October 29, 2009, 11:01 am 11:01 am
Check out the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial on the Governor’s veto. It has a message – albeit hidden in the left margin.
“Grow . . . ”
Check it out.
Posted by: Terminate | October 29, 2009, 7:24 pm 7:24 pm
I haven’t read ALL the previous comments, so pls forgive me if this is a duplication.
Mr. Davis is mistaken. The last line doesn’t end with u, it begins with u.
Posted by: Richard L. Enison | October 29, 2009, 7:57 pm 7:57 pm
Well Said!
Posted by: Patrick Henry | October 31, 2009, 11:23 am 11:23 am