SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for saying during a closed-door meeting that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are naturally feisty and temperamental because of their combination of "black blood" and "Latino blood."

He said the tape-recorded comments "made me cringe" when he read them in Friday's Los Angeles Times.

"Anyone out there that feels offended by those comments, I just want to say I'm sorry, I apologize," Schwarzenegger said. He added that if he heard his children make similar comments, "I would be upset."

The statements were captured on a six-minute tape made during a March 3 speechwriting session between Schwarzenegger and his advisers. On it, Schwarzenegger and chief of staff Susan Kennedy speak affectionately of state Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia and speculate about her nationality.

"I mean Cuban, Puerto-Rican, they are all very hot," the governor says on the recording. "They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."

Garcia, who is Puerto Rican, appeared with Schwarzenegger on Friday and said she was not offended by the governor's comments. Garcia earlier told the Times that she often calls herself a "hot-blooded Latina."

Schwarzenegger also said he called leaders from ethnic groups, who he said were not upset.

"All of them understood it was an off-the-record conversation," said Schwarzenegger, a Republican running for re-election in November. "It was not meant to be in any negative way."

A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez declined to comment directly on the remark but said the governor "has always been very respectful toward Latinos."

"These are hardly Nixon's Watergate tapes," Nunez spokesman Richard Stapler said.

However, Schwarzenegger's Democratic challenger, Phil Angelides, said the governor should "conduct himself with dignity."

"Once again, Gov. Schwarzenegger has used language that is deeply offensive to all Californians and embarrassed our state," Angelides said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger aides routinely tape his speechwriting sessions so the writers can keep a record of his thoughts and speaking patterns.

The newspaper did not say how the tape was obtained. The participants suggest during the meeting that they know they are being recorded.

*Sigh*. He should just go away.

I wonder if anybody in CA who voted for him is ashamed now. With him apparently groping other women and now this...I mean he just needs to give up and go back to acting badly in movies.

I know that I would be very offended if I heard that statement said out loud....

Hmm...I wonder how I should react with my black blood.

Arnold is just a mess. I can't believe he's the Governor of anything.

I can't believe he's actually likely to win again this year.

"Watch what you say about my husband or I'll cut you with my freshly sharpened face!!!"

Maria Shriver at a ribbon-cutting ceremony

"Watch what you say about my husband or I'll cut you with my freshly sharpened face!!!"

Maria Shriver at a ribbon-cutting ceremony

Wha-a?! Did she actually say that?!

Awnuld better be careful or there will be a 'Total Recall' in his future...

I appoligize for that lame pun folks, but I couldn't help myself.

Hee hee hee.

No, she never said it. But a few years ago on a "certain website which shall remain nameless" there were many Maria Shriver sharpened face jokes that were too hilarious to forget.

People in those positions say things all the time that they shouldn.t , hell we ALL do...are we bad people?

CLinton cheated on his wife in the WH and was a womanizer for years doing exactly what AZ has done, so is he any less a person?

I'd say that being a racist/sexist/homophobe etc. is worse.

I agree. Personal life is personal (Awnolds PLO-JOBS faa one thing) but silly generalizations about ethnic groups are not only extremely hateful and ignorant but just plain stupid on the part of any politician.

And it was racist. It was a generalization about an ethnic group. At least he apologized .. but with him we'll always wonder if he's a nazi.

CLinton cheated on his wife in the WH and was a womanizer for years doing exactly what AZ has done, so is he any less a person?

Succuming to natural hunan urges and treading into racist territory are two different things. You need to study what Germany did in WWII.