The 2004 election popped this one towards the top of the chart.

It is an excellent jab, don't you think?

I believe this originated in the old SNL skit "Hans and Franz", which poked fun at guys like Schwartzenegger. Typical of a Republican to repeat a joke they were originally the butt of. I also agree that it is indicative of profound misogyny and homophobia, and their attendant insecurities.

As someone pointed out,this phrase is a psychoanalysts dream.It exposes both contempt for women and the strong need to be SEEN AS MASCULINE by the person using it.Anyone who is truly secure in their own sexual identity doesn't give a rats rear-end what lifestyle others are living.

It says more about the men (and I use that word advisedly) who would resort to that homophobic expression to demean their political opponents than it does about their opponents. Guys like Arnold and Santorum et al are generally the kind of guys who bulk up on steroids or think of their wives and children as property or engage in uber-masculine verbiage to convince others they're "hard" and "manly" but covertly dress up in the frilly, feminine under-garments of their wives when their wives aren't around and mincingly pose in front of the mirror, until they've achieved some sort of temporary, unfulfilling release. Or they re-live in their dreams at night that golden high-school era when they could prance naked about the locker room with their pals, snapping wet towels at each other's buttocks, and pretend to each other (and themselves) that they epitomized gritty John-Wayne style masculinity. They usually crow the loudest against gay marriage too, or commiserate with their buddies over a few beers about the "freaks" marching in a gay-pride parade. But in those early, dark hours of the morning, when sleep just won't come, they know who they are, and there's no escaping that alarming reality. Which is why they come up with terms like "girlieman"...the implicit hope is that if they laughingly refer to someone else that way, it removes the suspicion that they themselves are anything less than real "He-Men"...classic case of what the psychiatrists call projection. (All this analysis for free! Usually for my sessions of arm-chair psychiatry, I charge...!) Oh well, as long as there are gay people in the world (and there always will be...sorry, James Dobson), there are going to be those repressed types who fear them because they secretly envy them.

I have to admit, this one was kind of funny and to the point when it was used even though many considered it was in bad taste.

It would be better except it is usually thrown around by too many uneducated rednecks who don't understand the historical sociological gender roles. . .aww sh#t, forget it. . .

For the record, now, I want to state clearly that I don't consider EVERY liberal a girlie man. Period. Only male liberals.