Schwarzenegger's 'girlie-men' remark...
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| Mon, 07-19-2004 - 11:05am |
Somebody give the man a thesaurus! While I'm not 'offended' by his remark, I do think it makes him sound stupid, juvenile & embarrassing. I can just imagine what must have been going through Maria's mind when she heard that comment! LOL!
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/182682_girlie19.html
Schwarzenegger's 'girlie-men' remark draws criticism from Democrats
Monday, July 19, 2004
By TIM MOLLOY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday that the governor would not apologize for calling lawmakers "girlie men," despite criticisms from Democrats that the remark was sexist and homophobic.
Schwarzenegger dished out the insult at a rally Saturday, claiming Democrats were delaying the budget by catering to special interests.
"If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ...' if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men," Schwarzenegger said to the cheering crowd at a mall food court in Ontario.
The governor lifted the term from a long-running "Saturday Night Live" skit in which two pompous, Schwarzenegger-worshipping weightlifters repeatedly use it to mock those who don't meet their standards of physical perfection.
Democrats said Schwarzenegger's remarks were insulting to women and gays and distracted from budget negotiations. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl said the governor had resorted to "blatant homophobia."
"It uses an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult. That's very troubling that he would use such a homophobic way of trying to put down legislative leadership," said Kuehl, one of five members of the Legislature's five-member Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus.
"It's ironic that the governor would try to find a metaphor for weakness when his real problem is that we're being too strong," she said.
Schwarzenegger's criticism of Democrats stems in part from their support of one bill prohibiting schools from contracting services with private companies, and another giving workers authority to sue their employers to enforce labor laws. Each side accuses the other of caving in to special interests.
At a rally yesterday in Stockton, the governor gave a speech almost identical to the one he delivered in Ontario but without the "girlie men" remark. Spokesman Rob Stutzman said the line was dropped because Schwarzenegger had already sent the message he wanted to send, not because he regretted his remarks.
"It's a forceful way of making the point to regular Californians that legislators are wimps when they let special interests push them around," Stutzman said.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a Democrat, said that while he wasn't upset by the remark, his 13-year-old daughter was.
"She's a young girl who knows the governor and really likes him a lot and didn't find the term to be a positive term, and finds it to be derogatory," Nunez said. "It was no question a very, very insensitive comment to make. ... I think it really is beneath Governor Schwarzenegger."
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I doubt that (I hope that doubt is right...lol) considering who he's married to. If anyone could have given him at least a rundown of the "office ropes" I hope someone in her family would have. lol
Well, being given a 'rundown of the ropes' and actually accepting and truly understanding it can be two totally different things.
The point is, nobody will remember anything else he said that day.
Elaine
I just wonder if she slapped him upside the head for the girly-man comment when she saw that the media was running away with it...lol....now that's a funny mental picture! :)
Well, maybe for you. For me, it made a strong point about the current problems getting a budget passed.
Merlins_Own
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW!
Elaine
Merlins_Own
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW!
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