Schwarzenegger should be ashamed of himself. Good natured ribbing is fine, but comparing Democrat lawmakers to girlymen is going way too far. Most girlymen are solid, decent, productive citizens, and are in no way responsible for our current budget mess.

The politically correct whining over this is hilarious. Arnold should crush the humor-impaired girlie-men with his pinky! We'd all be a lot better off.

The girlymen and the manladies at the NYT need to buck up and get over themselves.

I didn't know "alternation" was a word.

I find Arnold, who I voted for, smart, productive, and rather entertaining. Oh, I'm sorry. Should I be feeling demeaned?

It ain't leadership when the Governator goes on on the stump and tells people not to worry because "..The Terminator is there to protect them...; nor when his spokesperson opines about how legislators will respond after "tasting steel for 72 hours.." As for the "girlie-men" reference, well, the No. 1 elected official in the largest state in our country should just know better.

Maybe it's time to bring up the manner in which the governor financed his bodybuilding career.

Let me just quote George Skelton's column today:

" ... it's Republicans — not Democrats — who are blocking the budget."

This from the unbiased, objective George Skelton, who hated Ahnohld from the get-go?

True, Skelton's been no fan, but that's an ad hominem argument.

Deal with the point at hand. Republicans are indeed holding up the budget over non-budget issues (the "sue-your-boss" law and regulation that limits school districts' contracting with private firms). The governor, the man who campaigned on a platform of shaking up Sacramento and no more politics as usual, is completely playing politics as usual, better than the old players.

Let's just be thankful that the actress who played Flo on the TV show "Alice" hasn't launched a political career. Imagine all of the hand-wringing over a "Kiss my grits!" comment.

It should be obvious to everyone that it's summer, and people are looking for any snippet of pseudo-news. And it's not just Democrats; Billygate (with Billy Carter and the Libyans) was a summer story.

Here's the problem - problems, really:

1) It wasn't even that funny.

2) We can now proudly claim the Tiffany of Governors (he tours malls to win fans)

3) What he has done is tantamount to Davis's argument that the legislature exists to implement the governor's vision (I said that on my blog yesterday, the SF Chron said it on its ed page today) - and look what happened to Davis.

4) Full disclosure - I hate that Davis was recalled. I liked him. No really. But I also relented a bit a few months back as I got caught up in the Wohoo Arnold momentum. Maybe this guy can change things. Maybe he can help California.

But nope. Not so much. It's the same old crappy system. The base problem is the Legislature - but not the way he'd have us believe. It's what we, the voters, have done to the Legislature that is a crime. None of it will change until we reform redistricting in California. Making the Legislature part time will just make the Governor uber-powerful - which will be BAD NEWS. We like checked and balanced government, remember? If we stop messing with the checks and balances, things would be great.

Dems, Reeps, and the Governor all need to buck up and make hard decisions. Cut some, raise some revenue, take some lumps, and move on already.

And Arnold - the cheesy movie and TV references must go. Forget women and minorities, it's offensive to humor, generally.

Sure Amy, feel demeaned. Not for voting for Der Gropenfuhrer, but for your insufferable priggery, your talentless hackery and your inability to write pathologic anything worth reading.

I just visited your blog for the very first time ever. Apparently you don't like obnoxious Americans because they have fat asses. Or something like that. The nerve of them. It felt like being in high school again.

As a guy who has spent a considerable amount of time in France (I actually got out of the cafes once in a while and hung out with people who WEREN'T clever writers), as well as several other countries where dark people live. I can assure you that they have fat asses and wear ugly clothes too.

Far be it from me to mention those ridiculous hats you wear.

But how many papers did you say you wrote for? I forget.

>>> True, Skelton's been no fan, but that's an ad hominem argument.

Skelton screens issues through his liberal biases. That's not ad hominem, that's just basic reality.

One big difference between Arnold and Gray. Gray did everything himself. Arnould is enlisting the people to help him get the budget passed. Arnould is taking a page from the Reagan playbook. Get the people to call their elected representatives and tell those elected folks to vote for the Governor's (or in Reagan's case - the President's) proposal.

David: It doesn't matter if Skelton is on the DNC payroll. His statement is either true or it isn't; his bias would only be at issue if he was to write that one side or another had a better budget, not when describing who is at fault. In this case, since the Governor's office and the Democrats have already come to terms on the larger issues concerning the budget, the only things holding up passage are special interest bills favored by the Republicans minority.

Amy: You should only feel demeaned if you wanted a governor who wasn't going to embarass the state with his attempts at "entertainment". As George Bush found out to his regret, when the people who should be fearing him are laughing at him, leadership becomes impossible.

Apparently anyone who doesn't grope women is a Girlie Man.

>>>the only things holding up passage are special interest bills favored by the Republicans minority.>>>

I bet if Skelton had rightist inclinations, he'd characterize that as special interest bills opposed by the Democrat majority. And if people of conservative bent who agreed with such a position were to claim such remarks weren't colored by political preferences, they'd be wrong too.

It's not realistic for anyone to claim COLUMNISTS or COMMENTATORS who deal with political issues are capable of squeezing out personal preferences in their writings.

Anyway, back to the point about the Republicans being the actual ones who should have been the target of Arnold's anti-girlie men finger-pointing, the Times had a non-columnist/op-ed news story about the Republicans holding up the budget earlier. I just used Skelton because it was more timely.

The news story can be found here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget15jul15,1,86243.story

At least he didn't say "stupid, dirty, nifty Democrats." That could have been daringly brilliant and even funnier (if he fires Riordan), even though any SNL reference from anyone at any time in any situation is a hilarious and healthy invitation to lighten up. Taking offense at the spirit of an SNL joke in America is . . . . not too smart.

Preempting killjoy nitpickers -- there are plenty of situations where an SNL joke or reference wouldn't be appropriate. This just wasn't one of them.

Steve Smith & Co.: If you seriously think Arnold has "embarrassed the state" and that most people are laughing at him, you're SO out of touch. The only people being laughed at are the idiots complaining about his remarks. They look like killjoys.
On another note, I would like to know how many of the anti-girlie-man-joke people on this thread have no problem with Whoopi Goldberg's anti-Bush tirade? And vice versa: How many pro-girlie-man folks are upset about Whoopi?

The real problem, which everyone seems to be overlooking, isn't that Arnold is bashing Democrats. It's that Arnold is bashing Democrats for exactly the same thing he has been doing himself: Selling out to special interests. Arnold sold out California to the insurance companies with his pro-insurance company worker's comp reform. Which just goes to show that if you are going to vote for someone because of conservative spending issues, vote for McClintock, even if he is a rat bastard on social issues.

Re "Allan's" comments about Amy Alkon: He sounds like a girly man with issues.

If Schwarzenegger selling out to "special interests" means he was able to push through long overdue worker's comp reform, then he should sell out as much as possible. By contrast, the geniuses in Sacramento have altered state law over the past year to allow --- get this --- an employee of a company to sue his or her employer for harrassment, caused NOT by the employer or the employer's other workers, but by the CUSTOMER of the employer. IOW, a waitress or grocery checker can sue her employer because the patron sitting at the table or the customer standing in line was making advances at her.

David says:
>>>"Maybe it's time to bring up the manner in which the governor financed his bodybuilding career."

Yes

Allan's no girlie man. He's just realizing he really has been "affectionately" ridiculing forty-something High School Mean Girls at LA Observed for months.

Hard to think of anything girlier than that.