What's in a word?

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking to a group of newspaper editors on Tuesday, said that the U.S. should "close the borders" with Mexico. On Wednesday the Governor apologized.

"The bottom line is, I misspoke, and I'm sorry if I offended anyone," Schwarzenegger said about his comments Tuesday to a newspaper publishers' group in San Francisco. "I meant 'securing' our borders, not 'closing' them.

But state Treasurer Phil Angelides who has already declared his gubernatorial aspirations for 2006 couldn't let an opportunity to stir divisiveness pass him by.

"The governor knows what he's saying. He knows what his words mean. The visual image of closing the border is a clear image ... and it's not the first time he's done this.''

I cannot imagine what Angelides thinks he can gain by making political fodder from what was a simple mistake unless he is just trying to exploit Hispanics in California, a group that largely supported Schwarzenegger in 2003.