Girlie Man #2 - "Fabian" Nunez hugging Girlie Man #3, Gil Cedillio, as Girlie Man #3, Gray Davis, sign drivers license for illegals bill.
Posted on 07/18/2004 9:36:33 PM PDT by John Lenin
By TIM MOLLOY, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES - A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) said Sunday 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 as he claimed 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 added.
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 Sunday 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. "If they complain too much about this, I guess they're making the governor's point."
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 personally am not intimidated or threatened by it, but I think it really is beneath Gov. Schwarzenegger."
Calling Democrat lawmakers "girlie men" is an insult to girlie men everywhere.
We need to run with it..."Kerry/Edwards...girlie men, YA!"
Can anyone think of a single democrat male who is not a girlie-man? Aren't they supposed to all be in touch with their "feminine-side"? How else could a Kerry-Edwards ticket appeal to the feminists who want a woman on the ticket except when feminine men can be found instead.
girlie-man ping
Arnold rules.
Whatta buncha crybabies.
The Dems call the President a Nazi, a stupid, murdering thug and that's groovy.
Arnold calls them a funny name and they go apesh*t.
Bwhahahaha.
Girlie-men...does that make them cry? Huh?
Liberal wusses will go the way of the dinosaurs.
I agree, Governor Schwarzeneeger used the wrong term for the Democrats. They're Crybaby men. I can hear their . . . WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
I'm not sure I want that man being president. He's working to amend the Constitution to let him run, possibly as soon as 2008, and what irritates me is the "R" behind his name should be replaced with an "N" for nazi. If he believes in gun control, if he believes in abortion, if he believes in enviro-wacko philosophies, then he's just like all the other leftists, parallel to the very nazi party that he's trying so hard to distance himself from. Nazis had the holocaust. We have abortion. Nazis grabbed guns. Nazis were enviro-wackos. They were leftist socialist creeps. No one argues that point. But people get ticked off when I compare him to a nazi because his father was one. Why is that a big "plus" for a guy who wants to be president? The sympathy factor. We're not talking about putting a pet to sleep. We are talking about the most powerful office in the free world. I feel duty bound to see if he thinks like his father. All indications are, he does, and I'm going to say it like it is, no matter how unpopular that makes me. This is too important to be timid or mushy. Sad FReegards....
... with the minor difference of allowing the deaths of helpless, unborn innocents by the millions, rather than the holocaust against an unarmed religious group.
Actually what keeps California stagnant is a legislature dominated by the craziest lefties that anyone has anywhere...that and 4 million illegals
Not a bad idea.
Arnie, tell it like it is. Bravo.
You tell em Arnie.LOL! girly men I love it
Me too, I'll use that one, "girly men" that's a new one
Good writing skills...
No you idiots....stop adhering to outdated stereotypes....homosexual men are NOT automatically girlie men.
Girlie men = DEMOCRATS...automatically
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.
I don't think that she was upset by the remark in so much as Gov. Schwarzenegger was calling her father a 'girlie man'. Now she has to go to school and hear her friends laugh at her father being a 'girlie man'. That's what she is upset about.
This phrase "Homophobic", it is so worn out. If you look at the "phobic" suffix, and see that it means "an irrational fear of", it does not apply. I do not believe Arnold is afraid of the "girlie men". However, the rather shrill response by Mr. Kuehl does smack of irrationality. I would dare to say that Mr. Kuehl is Arnold-o-phobic. With the political landscape being what it is in California, the "girle men" have better representation than just about any voting bloc there is.
Most people have come to realize that "Homophobia" means "Not in agreement with the gay agenda", and really has nothing to do with psychological issues. The phrase is just a communications shortcut, an alternate means for flipping the 'bird' or expressing a drawn-out tirade at somebody the "girlie men" and like-minded individuals disagree with.
Yeah, his 13-year-old daughter was about as upset over the comment as Michael Newdow's daughter was over the Pledge of Allegiance. Talk about using your children for your own political gain!
Mr. Kuehl is actually Ms. Kuehl. Some of you old timers probably remember her as Zelda on the old Doby Gillis tv sitcom in the 50's. She's really not a girley man, she's a manly girl.
girlie men? yeah, and? so?...........
I guess I missed the part where that was really a big deal
Right you are. find "Mr." replace "Mrs."
Or perhaps "mizz"? "Ms."? Here, forget the title. "That Kuehl person who is whining". That fits, doesn't it?
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