Thursday, January 29, 2004

California Politics: Jerry Brown on Gray Davis

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown opposed the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis. But back during the recall campaign, he had an interesting take on why Davis was so unpopular during a CNN interview with Tucker Carlson (08/12/03):

CARLSON: ... Mr. Mayor, and this is a very complicated answer, but boil it down for us. You've been around California politics. Gray Davis is about as unpopular as any person in human history has ever been.

BROWN: Well, not as unpopular as Harry Truman or my father, Pat Brown
[also a Governor of California], at one time.

CARLSON: Well, that may be so. He's pretty much hated by everybody. Why?

BROWN: Why? Well, you know, there's a story in ancient Greece about a guy named Aristides the Just. And as they were exiling this guy, he stood there and said, "Why are you voting to exile me?" And the guy said, "I'm just tired of hearing the name Aristides the Just."

That happens when you're in this business. It's called overexposure, too many controversies, lots of enemies. Don't count Gray Davis out yet. He has a real mountain to climb, but this is such a chaotic, unprecedented arena, I think we ought to wait a few more weeks before we write any epithets or obituaries.

No comments: