Arnold Schwarzenegger's vulgar veto note

A California newspaper spotted what it called a coded message inside a note from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger explaining his veto of a mundane bill. The first letters in seven lines, read vertically, spell "F--- you," a sentiment that may have been intended for bill sponsor Tom Ammiano. Ammiano recently made news by telling Schwarzenegger, who has vetoed bills that would have legalized same-sex marriage, to "kiss my gay ass." Was the slight intentional?

Of course it was intentional: "Any math majors want to take a run at calculating the odds of this happening by pure chance?" asks Allahpundit in Hot Air. The vulgar message was obviously intentional. Tom Ammiano probably had it coming, but his remarks were made in the heat of the moment. Schwarzenegger ratcheted up the "incivility" with his painstakingly executed riposte.

"Schwarzenegger sends very special message to legislator who heckled him"

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Maybe, but it was probably an aide, not Arnold: The hidden "F--- you" from Arnold Schwarzenegger, say Philip Matier and Andrew Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle, was, in the words of Sacramento State University political science professor Barbara O'Connor, certainly "more subtle than 'kiss my gay ass.'" If it was intentional, she said, it was probably written by a staffer "having a good time."

"Did Schwarzenegger drop 4-letter bomb in veto?"

Don't be so sure -- Arnold's a known prankster: The governor's spokesman claimed the hidden message was a coincidence, says Michael Rothfeld in the Los Angeles Times, but don't be so sure. "Schwarzenegger has been a prankster" since his bodybuilding days, when he persuaded rivals to eat lots of ice cream and ground nutshells so they'd get sick, according to two of his biographers. Would he hide an obscenity in a veto letter? It's not exactly far-fetched.

"Innocuous letter or gubernatorial prank?"

The frat boys in the governor's office should act their age: This "F--- you" didn't just go out to Ammiano, says Tim Redmond in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, it went out to everyone in San Francisco, because Ammiano's bill would have helped the city's port with some financing issues. "No wonder it's hard to get anything done in Sacramento," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "office is full of frat boys spending hours (and it would have taken hours to get this exactly right) making stupid little-boy jokes." Grow up, guys.

"Arnold to SF: F--- you"