Californians were treated to “Terminator Eye for the Queer Guy.” Predictably, the PC Crowd got their undies in a bunch.

Oh, The Ahhnold. Maybe it’s because we both were born somewhere else — sometimes, the ethnic humor gets lost in the translation. But I get it. Most people got it.

When California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Sacramento Democrats “girlie men” at a rally to press them to end the impasse on his mean-and-lean state budget, hardheaded donkeys kicked up a fuss. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl called the governor’s remarks “blatant homophobia.” Mark Leno, the chairman of the Legislature’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus, said Arnold’s goofy assertion about girlie men was “as misogynist as it is gay.”

I don’t mean to be pithy, but people, please, get a makeover. Consider the source of girlie men — or is it girly men?

Whatever. Hans and Franz know a “girlie man” when they see one. Remember the skit on “Saturday Night Live”? It was a spoof of Arnold’s bodybuilder days. Hans and Franz would use the term to refer to weaklings — yes, a sexist reference to women. It was hilarious precisely because it was coming from two pathetic fellas who measured success by the pounds they would try to lift.

Instead of playing along and challenging the governor to “pu-ump them up,” California’s Democratic leaders look silly in their defensiveness.

It’s amazing, too, that serious news networks would try to decipher, decode and debate Arnold’s latest goofball attempt at humor.

I mean, get a grip. He’s a Hollywood muscle-head, not some Boston brainiac. That’s OK. He’s not the first politician to come from Hollywood or from Muscleville, USA. (Remember Minnesota’s Jesse Ventura? He’s teaching at Harvard now.)

Despite his limitations as a novice politician, Arnold has managed to keep a 60 percent approval rating by working hard to streamline California’s bloated government. One of his campaign promises was to get the budget to the people on time — a perennial problem there. Well, the budget is three weeks late, and there are rumblings that his latest remark probably will delay any resolution until August.

Apparently the “girlie men” are a bit vengeful. Silly, silly boys — oops, don’t mean to be sexist — and girls, too.

The girlie men’s hurt feelings also serve another purpose. The fuss deviates attention from the core of what really matters to a sideshow about nothing in particular. Because to focus on what Arnold was saying in its entirety exposes the nonpartisan universal truth about government run amok:

“If they don’t have the guts to come out 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, I want them to make the millions of dollars. I don’t want to represent you,’ if they don’t have the guts, I call them girlie men.”

Arnold could have called on Michael Moore to come up with more sinister names and plots. Instead, muscle-head that he is and lacking an original thought, Arnold relied on an old comedy script that poked fun at himself, no less, to lighten the mood.

The real deal is this: Democrats feel threatened because Arnold has been going to Democratic swing districts to seek support for his agenda. In an election year, that’s a proclamation of war.

Hell hath no fury like girlie men scorned.

Write to Ms. Marquez by e-mail at mmarquez@orlandosentinel.com.