The Republican National Convention opened with an evening highlighting the party’s inclusive attitude and broad appeal. The evening included speeches from dignitaries and ordinary individuals of various national origins including California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger has done an admirable job reacting to and embracing caricatures of his accent and manner of speech. He used one such caricature during his speech on Tuesday night. He referred to those who would complain about the economy as “girlie men.”

While this reference may have been humorous on “Saturday Night Live,” do the Republicans and the American people really want their leaders to respond to criticism, not with intelligent well-thought-out responses but with derogatory slang?

During an evening highlighting inclusively and broad appeal, why would the party want to use a gender-specific term as a put- down? Are women and thoughtful men not outraged by language that refers to women as weak and whiny? Is this inclusive language? Does it really show that anyone, including women, is welcome in the Republican Party?

Tom Grogan

Bangor