ShareThisBy KEVIN YAMAMURA
Monday, November 13, 2006
As he kicked off a two-day trade mission Thursday in Mexico, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised Tuesday's congressional results despite the fact that his own party lost control of both houses for the first time in 12 years.
"Now when you talk about the election on a national level, I think this is good that we have new blood coming to Washington, that we have new people and new ideas coming to Washington," Schwarzenegger said. "Now I'm not looking at it in a political way, saying this is for the Democrats or for the Republicans.
"I think it's good that it's new ideas and new blood because Washington was stuck. They could not move forward. Not much was accomplished. I think it was terrible. So I think the people have spoken in America, all over the United States."
The Republican governor met for nearly an hour with outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox at Los Pinos, the presidential residence, before taking questions on immigration and this week's elections.
Schwarzenegger won re-election Tuesday by nearly 17 points by riding a theme of bipartisanship in a state controlled by Democrats. He didn't deviate from that message Thursday.
Schwarzenegger communications director Adam Mendelsohn downplayed the governor's comments afterwards, suggesting that he never endorsed the Democratic takeover of Congress. Mendelsohn said the governor intended to emphasize the "new ideas" heading to Washington regardless of partisanship, even though Democrats were widely credited for them.
Schwarzenegger and several members of his administration were accompanied by California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg and two other business delegates in a breakfast meeting with Fox and other Mexican leaders. They discussed trade, the environment and immigration over ham-and-cheese omelets with frijoles. After the meeting, Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver appeared briefly with Fox and his wife, Marta Sahagun de Fox on the front steps of the presidential palace.
The governor also made a stop at a Chedraui supermarket to promote California agriculture. He tasted grapes, ate sushi made from California rice and sipped Ernest and Julio Gallo cabernet sauvignon.
