Talk:Guido Westerwelle

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Older[edit]

Joerg Haider came out as gay?! Okay, that's it. We should get to make trades now, like in sports. - Montréalais

Only rumours about Jörg Haider. Therefore I remove his name. 213.23.20.54 04:15, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

This is an asinine article. I don't disagree with the gay part of his bio, but that's all there is to the article. I'm sure he has other accomplishments.

Sadly his accomplishments are basically to be less idiotic than other German politicians, which comes down to not being a Commie. He's definitely no Rathenau.

hello mr. mccarthy! i thought you were dead?

JD vs Dr iur[edit]

I changed Mr Westerwelle's title from JD to Dr. iur., because a JD is a professional degree (mostly in the US), whereas Dr. iur. is the academic degree in Germany in law, which requires research and a thesis. The one is thus no translation of the other. Blur4760 15:44, 6 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Homosexuality[edit]

I changed the sentece that stated that "In the last years Westerwelle won the discussion over his sexual orientation in the FDP.". First of all, I personally dislike the expression "to win a discussion". Secondly, I don't think there was an actual discussion on his sexuality, i.e. neither did the party discuss whether he is homosexual, nor did they discuss whether he should "change" his sexuality. At the best, it was a point of concern for some. I hope that is okay with GLGerman. Blur4760 17:57, 12 July 2006 (UTC) Yes that s ok, Blur4760, --GLGerman 20:11, 12 July 2006 (UTC)GLGerman[reply]

Infobox[edit]

I added the Poltician (Alternative) Infobox. Please expand it if you have any further information. Poeloq 19:47, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Fun politics"[edit]

The man may seem ridiculous to many, but he certainly never used the term "Spaßpolitik" himself, which is a creation of journalists who find that he lacks integrity and seriousness. --77.188.126.20 (talk) 16:35, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ja. He's parading around with his new husband calling for tax cuts when Germany annually prosecutes thousands for thought crimes. Free speech could have saved the country probably hundreds of millions by now in prosecution and detention costs. Ridiculous.

Thought Criminal AG (talk) 13:16, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Firsts"[edit]

Of the "firsts" that Westerwelle breaks, the only one I think should be mentioned is that he is, as Vice Chancellor, the highest ranking male homosexual in the modern era. He is behind Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. That should be the limit. Therequiembellishere (talk) 03:46, 25 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And neither should it be mentioned. What actually is the "highest ranking male homosexual"? - Does he get to give orders to all male homosexuals or what? Str1977 (talk) 18:35, 28 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I wasn't actually keen on any of their inclusions, I was expecting a surge of "first gay junior coalition leader", "first gay foreign minister", "first gay vice chancellor/deputy prime minister" each ending with "of Germany/of Europe/in the European Union/of the world/in the modern age". Out of these all, the least of evils (IMO) is that his position is the highest any gay man has achieved to date. Considering this hasn't happened, I'm perfectly fine with its exclusion. Therequiembellishere (talk) 02:51, 29 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
His sexual orientation is a private matter that only needs to be briefly mentioned under "personal life". I think the "Gay politicians" category should be removed. What is a "gay politician", someone engaged in gay politics? Urban XII (talk) 06:42, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You seem to think of gay as exclusively an activity, but it's also a property. In other words, not every black politician is necessarily actively involved in matters of black politics other than by being black, and there can be black "firsts" in politics, such as on county or state or federal level, without the person themselves being actively involved in the passing of laws that specifically relate to black people. And that's the same kind of first as with Sigurðardóttir and Westerwelle. --79.242.222.168 (talk) 02:14, 19 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Attitude towards English[edit]

I've been given the impression that one of the more well-known things about Guido Westerwelle is his response to a BBC correspondent who asked him a question in English: "Hier wird nur Deutsch gesprochen". Apparently this caused a bit of a stir. Was it a major thing; should it be in the article? AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 12:47, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, this should not be in the article. Wikipedia is not news, this is a minor issue. He didn't say "hier wird nur Deutsch gesprochen", he said "just as it's customary to speak English in Great Britain, it's customary to speak German in Germany". It's not surprising that leading politicians prefer to speak their national language when speaking in public. The French have exactly the same policy, and if a reporter asked a French minister or would-be minister to reply in English at a press conference, I'm sure he would refuse as well. The same is likely the case in the UK (the British shadow Foreign Secretary would probably not reply in anything else than his national language). Here Westerwelle explains that he on formal occasions only will speak German. This has nothing to do with an "attitude towards English", rather an attitude towards the national language of his country. Urban XII (talk) 16:22, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, this should rather be an issue concerning the language skills of the BBC correspondent. I very much agree with a person who wrote "What kind of point was the journalist even trying to make, demanding that a German politician speak to him in English? If you lack the language skills to properly conduct yourself, get out of the press conference. I'm sure there are plenty of qualified German-speaking journalists who could take your place." If a German journalist had approached Gordon Brown and asked him to speak in German because he didn't speak English, it would be equally ridiculous. You simply don't send journalists who lack language skills to cover German or French politics. Urban XII (talk) 08:14, 31 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The reasons for Westerwelle to answer only in German are his bad skills in the english language. Everyone in Germany knows that. He does not want to be made fun of. That's it.
And he was too proud to say this to the journalist. His following answer was very rude. The sentence "Es ist Deutschland hier." sounds very stupid in German. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.136.241.210 (talk) 10:19, 2 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Most likely the BBC reporter actually wanted a demonstration of Westerwelle's English skills (or lack thereoff), you don't attend to a press conference if you don't know the language, and german journalists even offered to translate. Westerwelle chose to rather sound rude than being kidded. --84.156.112.187 (talk) 18:38, 14 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Westerwelle (who spoke with ease in English) was in a buoyant mood and more confident on his issues than we have seen him so far." (Philip D. Murphy) Source: wikileaks --Chin tin tin (talk) 23:49, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed Der Spiegel says that Westerwelle was "widely ridiculed" and the Economist said at the time that "the press pounced." It's received enough coverage to include.--Brian Dell (talk) 22:25, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Plagarism Accusations and Revocation of his Doctorate[edit]

Guido Westerwelle permanently renounced his doctoral degree earlier today. (See, for example, this story from Deutsche-Welle.) We should probably have a section explaining the plagiarism controversy, and his education section ought to be updated as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by PlanBMatt (talk • contribs) 05:03, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Umm, that was Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, not Guido Westerwelle -- Ferkelparade π 09:19, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Whoops, sorry. That's what I get for not sleeping last night. PlanBMatt (talk) 17:27, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Controversy"[edit]

Just wondering, how is this controversial? "At a press conference on 27 September 2009, after the election, Westerwelle refused to answer a question in English from a BBC reporter, claiming that "it is normal to speak German in Germany".[10][11]". Mister Westerwelle hadn't said anything controversial there. Seems like somebody is trying to label him as a ultra-nationalist. HeadlessMaster (talk) 18:15, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Haven't checked the sources, but it did cause a bit of a kerfuffle here in Germany. The implication was not so much that he was an ultra-nationalist but rather that he was either being arrogant or covering up his ignorance of English. —Angr (talk) 06:42, 25 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Heritage?[edit]

Does anyone know his cultural background? I'm wondering if he's half-Italian because of his first name.Historian932 (talk) 05:04, 28 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Guido is quite a common name in Germany.

Late roman decadence remarks[edit]

I changed this to a translation of what he actually said rather than a POV interpretation of his comments. --213.103.217.89 (talk) 10:07, 4 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"liberal"[edit]

While it is true that he is in a party that is described, or at least self-described as "The Liberals", he is only a liberal by the mainlain European definition, ie an advocate of small government and lower taxes. It is therefore silly to simply use the word liberal to describe him in the introduction. I'm not arguing against his politics. I'm saying that most readers of this article, without it having a better description of him, will assume that liberal means socially permissive to the point of degeneracy and a person who supports equality of outcome and a massive welfare state, ie the almost standard American pejorative use of the word, which has unfortunately, become almost the only definition that people know. Libertarian or classical liberal would be better, even though they are American and British terms. --LeedsKing (talk) 10:23, 14 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think the average reader interprets "liberal" to mean "socially permissive to the point of degeneracy" or "a person who supports equality of outcome and a massive welfare state". I don't think anyone on either side of the Atlantic interprets it that way except for a tiny handful of Americans who are so far to the right that they consider "left wing" even right-of-center classical liberals like most people in the German FDP (or the American Democratic Party, for that matter, which takes about the same place on the political spectrum as the FDP). Angr (talk) 11:24, 14 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Partner, not husband[edit]

Germany does not have same-sex marriage, so it's not correct to refer to his "husband". They are "registered partners".

See the German Wikipedia: Seit dem 17. September 2010 lebt er mit Michael Mronz, Manager des deutschen CHIO in Aachen und Bruder des früheren Tennisprofis Alexander Mronz, in eingetragener Partnerschaft. (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerwelle#Privates)

See also http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebenspartnerschaftsgesetz and http://dict.leo.org/forum/viewGeneraldiscussion.php?idThread=1157899&idForum=4&lp=ende&lang=de

I've changed the wording from "husband" to "partner" in two places. Omc (talk) 19:34, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This seems excessively pedantic. Everyone in Germany uses the terminology of marriage ("marry", "divorce", "husband", "wife", etc.) colloquially to refer to the aspects of the eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft. If you insist on changing it, at least change it to something unambiguous like "domestic partner". His "partner" could be anyone: a business partner, for example. Angr (talk) 20:03, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have changed the wording slightly and linked to Civil union to make it unambiguous. I think there is a potential problem in an international context because some places actually allow gay marriage, as opposed to civil union. --Boson (talk) 20:18, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling and date formatting[edit]

The spelling and date formatting was a mixture of American and British; so I standardized to OUP British English (-ize not -ise). I noticed when I had finished that there may have previously been a slight preponderance of American. I think the change is justified, since it's a European topic, but if anyone objects . . . --Boson (talk) 20:18, 24 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Remove "External links" section?[edit]

The external links section currently (5 August 2014) contains these four links. I suggest removing the whole section:

Fëanor (talk) 21:34, 5 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Agree with you on the latter three links, but his personal website should stay, regardless of how much (un)developed is the site. —capmo (talk) 04:02, 6 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
OK, thank you. I'll give it another day or so, and if nobody else has objected I'll remove the last three links but leave the personal website link in place. Fëanor (talk) 20:29, 6 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Fëanor (talk) 21:53, 8 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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