Girlie Men
Reported by Marie Therese - July 19, 2004 -
Big Story with John Gibson. July 19, 2004.
Arnold Schwarzenegger won the California recall election based on his promise to balance the budget and bring it in on time without raising taxes and without reducing the funding for education. 55% of the state (not including yours truly) dumped Governor Gray Davis and installed Arnold as our Savior du Jour.
What did he do?
His first try at "belt-tightening" involved reductions in funding for the handicapped and elderly. After an uproar, he backed away from this idea very quickly.
Recently, he authorized California animal shelters to euthanize strays after three days instead of six. The reaction was swift, angry and vocal. He backed off even quicker!
(Note to Arnie and anyone else who might want to be Governor of California: NEVER attack the animals, the children, the disabled or the elderly. You'll find yourself in a pitched battle with voters from both sides of the political spectrum!)
"No Child Left Behind" - an UNFUNDED FEDERAL MANDATE trumpeted hither and yon by the Republicans - has become an albatross around the neck of California. It's so bad in the San Francisco school district, the program is jokingly referred to as "No Teacher Left Standing". It has also left the State holding a huge tab.
A few months ago Schwarzenegger announced that $650 million would be CUT from the budget for local schools, thus breaking his main campaign promise. It remains to be seen if he can survive the uproar this has caused.
He made a deal with five of the Indian tribes in essence raising their taxes in exchange for guarantees that he will campaign AGAINST two anti-gambling initiatives on the November ballot AND allow these five tribes to install thousands of new slot machines. Whatever happened to getting tough on Indian gaming?
So far, the "Governator" hasn't disappointed me. I expected him to renege on virtually every promise he made before the election. But I thought he'd learned that he simply must be more considerate about the perception that he discriminates against women.
Today, it's all over the news outlets that he called those who oppose him "girlie men".
I'm appalled!!!
In order to maintain parity and political correctness, our esteemed Gov. Schwarzenegger must immediately come up with an equally rude phrase for the women who oppose his budget proposals.
He simply cannot be allowed to insult only the men.
We women's libbers just won't stand for it!!
