Jerry Brown Thought Nazi Comments Were Off The Record

(AP) Attorney General Jerry Brown said Thursday he was surprised that comments comparing his rival's advertising campaign to a Nazi propagandist were published on a San Francisco radio station's website.

The Democratic nominee for governor said he believed he was having a casual, off-the-record conservation with a reporter he encountered while jogging in the Oakland Hills.

KCBS radio reporter Doug Sovern did not take notes or record the conversation.

"This was just a private conversation," Brown told radio station KGO in San Francisco. "Nobody had a pencil. Nobody said, 'By the way, is this a statement that you're making to the public?"'

Sovern, who identified himself as a reporter, quoted Brown in his blog last week comparing the advertising ability of billionaire Republican candidate Meg Whitman to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Whitman spent at least $81 million of her own money to win the GOP primary and said she is prepared to spend $150 million over the entire race.

The remarks drew criticism from the Whitman campaign and Jewish groups, and Brown earlier this week disclosed that he had called the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center to express his regret.

The two bumped into each other over Memorial Day weekend while Brown was jogging and Sovern was riding his bike. Sovern posted a story about the conversation to his blog on June 9, the day after the California primary.

Sovern told The Associated Press that Brown never requested the comments be off the record and that he was able to reconstruct the conversation, saying "I have a really good memory."

"I rode right home and wrote it down," Sovern said. "He is a public figure in a public place. He knew I was a reporter and didn't ask for it to be off the record."

The quotes in Sovern's blog were extensive, ranging from remarks about Goebbels to Brown's opinion that Whitman aspired to be the first female president to the nation's energy policy.

Brown hasn't disputed the substance of the quotes and acknowledged Thursday he "probably shouldn't have" referenced Goebbels.

Comments

[IDIOTA]

03:37 PM on 06/21/2010

I am voting for the governor who saw the future 30 years ago: Jerry Brown.

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

03:22 PM on 06/21/2010

I know I always make my Nazi comments off the record. What an idjit.

[LeeCalif]

02:23 PM on 06/21/2010

Who cares ? NOT ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LeeCalif]

02:22 PM on 06/21/2010

This is week 3 for this being listed HuffPo must be on lazy mode for news gathering.

[gomezrules]

02:18 PM on 06/21/2010

Oooohhh. "Off the record"..That makes everything OK. Soil your opponent with comparisons to one of the most heinous mass nurderers in history (and something the left bristles at when THEY are on the receiving end!), but telling that to A REPORTER and "thinking" the reporter will cover for you, kmakes it alright. Not to mention that the REPORTER is now the real bad guy if you are to believe Brown!

Governor Moonbeam, time for you to go! Beam up to the Mothership and get the heck out of here, will you please?

[zelduh]

09:02 PM on 07/17/2010

I guess you - AND the reporter do not know the quote for which Goebbels is famous:
--
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
--
Brown was correct. Her commercials demonstrate the Goebbels statement constantly.

[Thundrsong]

01:34 PM on 06/21/2010

Note to all candidates, there is no such thing as Off-The-Record. In this era of videophones, YouTube, blogs and so forth - it just doesn't exist. He should have known better. I think we've all learned that comparisons to Hitler and anything Nazi is hyperbolic. And let's be honest, we on the left have been guilty of it in the past (and we'll probably do it again) - but how about we *try* to avoid that comparison. Leave it to the Glenn Becks, Limbaughs and other radical nutjobs.

[WendellPerrySociety]

01:10 PM on 06/21/2010

this boy has more lives than marion berry and morris the cat combined

[Winning09]

12:51 PM on 06/21/2010

Why doesn't this article mention that the supposed remarks were made a few weeks before they were published in this blog that nobody knew about till the Whitman campaign publicized to start off the general election??!!

[PathofTotality]

12:43 PM on 06/21/2010

"The Democratic nominee for governor said he believed he was having a casual, off-the-record conservation with a reporter he encountered while jogging in the Oakland Hills."

Not sure why ANYBODY would think anything is "off the record" anymore. I think that policy is from when there were people with integrity. Say 50 years ago or more.

[currus]

01:42 PM on 06/21/2010

Concur! It used to be when a politician was in an informal setting, a restaurant, a gym, etc. he/she was "off the clock" and also off the record. Not now. I find it surprising that Governor Moonbeam is surprised.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

11:51 AM on 06/21/2010

Jerry has been around a long time . He knows better than to try and pawn off this mountain of spin on the peasants. This guy is the poster child for ridding the nation of aging career politicians out of touch with reality. It's time for California to say goodbye to this life long leftist HACK>

[brt929]

12:17 PM on 06/21/2010

One of the best Governors we ever had.

Certainly Californians are too smart to turn over the state to Meg the Bulldog. She seems to have anger management problems.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

12:43 PM on 06/21/2010

Bulldogs get results. Great executives are bulldogs. She managed her anger pretty well considering the success of EBAY. Jerry, on the other hand, is a washed up balding hippy who swilled one too many shots of bong water.

[planetmondo]

08:06 AM on 06/21/2010

Meg Whitmans stragety is to controll the media with massive spending,speak only in controlled environments and avoid substantial debates.Look for slogans coupled with the BIG LIE. repeat it often enough and some people will believe it. THAT is why Whitman is like Gobbels it has nothing to do with Jews,Poland or Natzi style racism it has to do with propaganda....GO JERRY BROWN!

[norepublicanleftbehind]

03:57 AM on 06/21/2010

The nazi reference was over the top for a public comment. That said she is running or someone is running her campaign like a propagandist. She is a lot of flash and as time unfolds I don't think the substance ought to run California.

Brown is one of those honest guys. He's spent so much time trying to find himself and seems pretty true to who he is no matter what issue or the cost to his reputation.

He cannot be bought.

[brt929]

12:51 PM on 06/21/2010

It amazes me. The right is allowed to draw an allegory to Naz*ism every time Democrats pass legislation or the President makes a speech, but Brown makes a very pertinent and apt comparison and you think he is over the top?

Quite a double standard. I think it is particularly disingenuous when we consider that Brown's comparison was not generalized hyperbole such as those made by Beck and friends. Brown's comparison was targeted and specific.

BTW, as a descendant of Holocaust Survivors, I had no problem with Brown's analogy.

[mardees]

11:04 PM on 06/20/2010

Politicians of all persuasions need to stop making WW!! references as symbols and metaphors. The words related to that era and Germany's history, have taken on all kinds of associations and don't really work for mass communication, or personal communication for that matter.

[Aaron Peeples]

10:46 PM on 06/20/2010

Nothing is "off the record" in the 21st century, especially if you're a politician and you're talking to a reporter.

[manumoka]

09:51 PM on 06/20/2010

The nazi comparisons have become cliches, but if used properly can be accurate metaphors. In this case especially, Jerry isn't just blindly saying someone is a nazi; he's talking about the nazi propaganda machine. That's an important historical lesson.

I just hope the superficial nazi media response doesn't overshadow the lesson being taught.