It amazes me, Tim, that you think that the Democrats' response to Schwarzenegger's crashing the event was "overwhelmingly negative." Had the response risen to that level the report would have read that the entire audience stood on its feet and shouted, in unison, OUT NOW! until Schwarzenegger had left the room without one word of his being allowed to be heard. This was supposed to have been a *Democratic Party* event. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Republican. He had no business there other than to provoke and cause exactly what happened: division, indecisiveness, and the chance to "blow up boxes" by getting the edge on an event that would never even been reported on had he not attended. There is no reason to have allowed him to speak. This was not the U.S. Congress nor the state Assembly. It's good that Ammiano and the compromised Leno got in a few critical words, but they should never have had to counter someone who should be anathema to a supposed opposition party, a party that is only a mild, sometime opposition, and more of than not, complicit.

video: http://www.tinyurl.com/k9sound091007a

Whether or not Tom Ammiano's quote as he walked off stage is accurate (hopefully), he's my new hero.

Wife-beating is not a social problem, it is a crime.

Thanks for the video raqcoon-- and, it's pretty clear it was 'gay' ass in that clip...

As I stood up to boo Arnold I was shhhhsh'd by some near me. (These are the very same Democrats who keep giving a pass to Barack, Nancy and Harry caving into the Insurance Industry in over Health Reform ).

The Democratic Party of 2009 is light years away from the Party I happily joined in 1964. We've lost our moral compass, out commitment to equality and justice and fairness for all. We've been severely dumbed down from the 60s clarion call for environmental and economic justice. It really troubles me.

Willie Brown and the Governator...smiling, holding hands, exchanging platitudes on stage. Like they're made for each other.

Maybe someone can explain to me why it's God-awful for Joe Wilson to shout down President Obama, but it's just fine to use the same a-hole tactics on Schwarzenegger. Why do we always find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot? As much as Arnold deserves it, have we fallen so low we're now using the tactics of the Republican haters? We ought to be better than that.

Remember, this was Willie Brown's little game -- he invited the guv to stop by, and I'm sure he loved every minute of the furor that resulted. For Brown, everything is about himself, and fun and games, and the real issues don't seem to matter.

Stevefromsacto:

Simple explanation: state of the union vs. a party :) Or, (unless you're a birther) you could say that Obama belongs at the State of the Union...The Governator doesn't belong at the Dems' party.

Or at least that's what the Dems would say. And for those that didn't get it, Tom's comment was a parody.

You little nancy boys are upset that Arnold doesn't care what you think? You used to masturbate to his weightlifting photos (and probably still do). Remember, homosexuals and other deviates are only a small part of the population in this country (somewhere about .1%)and with little stunts such as the one outlined above is it any wonder that normal people find you repugnant?

Why would the previous comment even get approved? Last I read, there are varying statistics about what % of the population is GLBT, but the smallest estimate was still ~2%.

I guess Cali has mopped up all of its real problems. Good, now on to more self-absorbed interest spending. Nothing matters MORE than your social issues. You might not have police, fire, or education, but DAMNIT, we have Harvey Milk Day.

As a pretty liberal Democrat, I gotta say...the issues being brought up here are minuscule in comparison with a state that is broke as hell and can't seem to pass a budget that allows for anything to be funded. Yes, there are serious issues involved in what these legislators and commentators are speaking about...but there are even more serious issues that have to be dealt with before any of these kind of issues can be put on the table and discussed, and the CA legislature doesn't seem to understand this. I personally applaud Arnie for trying to make people understand that, until we've dealt with the budgetary issues that are making this state bankrupt, there is simply no funding to move forward on the issues that we lefties care about. It is a bleak reality, but it is a reality - a state that is bankrupt and can't approve a budget simply can't move in any direction, be it left, right, or up the middle.

@Martin -- I left Lee451's comment up because it's further proof of how absolutely delusional people are about gay people. I was FAR too busy jacking off to Mark Spitz at the time to care about some weirdo veiny body builder, even if he did hang out with Andy Warhol.

>We ought to be better than that.

Yes, but we all should be better than that, on both sides of the aisle. Both parties, and the party's respective membership, have devolved into the worst kind of rhetorical drivel. You wouldn't think, watching the back and forth that goes on every day over the most ridiculous issues, that we had any substantive problems in this country.

I do wonder if this is even a whole country any longer. It seems we have done our best to alienate ourselves and to finally break down into our constituent socio-economic-sexual-political parts to the degree that we cannot even seem to speak to one another anymore.

The cure? Put this petty bullshit away, and start acting as if adulthood never went out of style.

I think it's not too much to expect for Tom Ammiano to behave like a decent human being in the presence of a fellow politician. If everyone acted like he did, where would we be? I think his behavior is disgraceful.

@ Marke B. - did you also leave the line in the article about the Governor driving the state into bankruptcy and despair to show how delusional people are about how budgets work in state government? Legislators like Ammiano are supposed to vote on and present a budget to the Governor, not the other way around. Until legislators like Ammiano are willing to compromise and present a balanced budget, this kind of behavior will continue to be seen as petty squabbling about issues that are put on the back burner in the minds of most Californians.

They're aren't? Sorry, but I'm still trying to figure out what that means...

Hell yeah Stevefromsacto. I doesn't matter who the guy is, you have to have class or the battle is already lost.

Wow, what a bunch of commies over here. Hello, our state has no money, what the fuck is Arnie supposed to cut? Spending has to come out of somewhere, and unless you raise taxes and scare all the industry left here out of california, you have to LOWER SPENDING. The idiotic voters of our state have handcuffed the legislature, so all that Arnie can do is cut stupid social programs, or else he'd have to cut highway maintenance or even more school funding. Also, the state has grown in workforce by some astronomical percentage, and needs to be paired down a bit in size...just really inefficient.

What a bunch of %^&*#$ morons. You think Arnold the incompetent is actually responsible for the massive failures of the state? Overspending has nothing to do with it? Hostility to business isn't a factor? Outrageous pension benefits for unions that will bankrupt us are not an issue? As a democrat (small d these days in CA) I'm appalled by the idiocy of Ammiano and his buddies that have run the state into the ground. Arnold's biggest problem is that he went along with this mob for his first four years. Too bad the republicans are ideologically bankrupt in CA, or democrats would rapidly become extinct in CA as they richly deserve.

To all of you liberal turds,

Drop dead. It's the ridiculous leftists politics that have the steate of California in the pathetic shape it's in.

Bill
De Oppresso Liber
Molon Labe

P.S. You can all kiss my straight ass.