Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The "Manly Ideal"
Here's how USA Today characterized Bush's SOTU speech last night:
Here's how USA Today characterized the Democratic response to the SOTU, given by newly- elected Senator James Webb:
What a change in political iconography and characterization - Bush is weak, Dems are strong; Bush is constrained, Dems are blunt.
Washington pundits will have to rewrite all their political cliches if this kind of thing continues.
Remember, the cliche says that Dick Cheney (5 deferments, other "priorities" during Vietnam war) and George W. Bush (AWOL from Texas Air National Guard) are manly men and strong "heroes" while John Kerry (volunteer in the Vietnam war, wounded in action) and Max Cleland (triple amputee from wounds suffered during Vietnam war) are effete girly men and French-loving pussies.
The cliches are bullshit, of course. But as Atrios notes here
Exactly.
WASHINGTON — A year ago, President Bush bragged in his State of the Union address that the United States was "writing a new chapter in the story of self-government" across the Middle East and pledged to "seek the end of tyranny in our world."
On Tuesday night, the president's tone was less confident and his promises considerably more constrained. He pleaded for patience from lawmakers who are moving toward resolutions that urge a new course in Iraq and oppose his decision to commit an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to the fight.
Here's how USA Today characterized the Democratic response to the SOTU, given by newly- elected Senator James Webb:
WASHINGTON — After a tense evening of mostly restrained applause during President Bush's State of the Union speech, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia accused the commander in chief of presiding over a "mismanaged war" and an imbalanced economy in a bluntly worded speech that reflected the willingness of Congress' new Democratic majority to flex its muscle.
Webb, who won last November in an upset after a campaign centered largely on his opposition to the war in Iraq, focused on the war in a nationally televised speech Tuesday night that served as his party's official response to the president.
A decorated Vietnam War combat veteran, Webb invoked his family's tradition of military service. His father, an Air Force colonel, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, and his son, Jimmy, is a Marine in Iraq.
"We owed them our loyalty, as Americans, and we gave it," he said. "They owed us sound judgment, clear thinking, concern for our welfare — a guarantee that the threat to our country was equal to the price we might be called upon to pay for defending it."
Bush and his advisers, he added, repaid the loyalty of the troops in Iraq by going to war "recklessly."
What a change in political iconography and characterization - Bush is weak, Dems are strong; Bush is constrained, Dems are blunt.
Washington pundits will have to rewrite all their political cliches if this kind of thing continues.
Remember, the cliche says that Dick Cheney (5 deferments, other "priorities" during Vietnam war) and George W. Bush (AWOL from Texas Air National Guard) are manly men and strong "heroes" while John Kerry (volunteer in the Vietnam war, wounded in action) and Max Cleland (triple amputee from wounds suffered during Vietnam war) are effete girly men and French-loving pussies.
The cliches are bullshit, of course. But as Atrios notes here
if what it takes is for the Democratic party to find a Manly Ideal like Webb to articulate simple common sense for the Punditry to get on board with coming out against a hideously stupid meatgrinder foreign policy, then, so be it. It kind of reinforces something Digby has often said about how subtle issues about "masculinity" and "femininity" play into our politics. But hey, if this dynamic is now ours, well, OK.
...
I wish our elections would be decided rationally, on issues, but they aren't. But if the Dem candidates have learned at long last to be feisty, hell, it's about goddamn time.
Exactly.
Comments:
<< Home
Good observation about how Bush and the Dems each came off looking last night. Webb was a great choice, and his blunt speech was delivered plainly and sincerely. Should have an affect on all but the most nutty of the wingnuts.
# posted by 
: 8:21 AM
: 8:21 AM
reality, you wrote:
"Remember, the cliche says that Dick Cheney (5 deferments, other "priorities" during Vietnam war) and George W. Bush (AWOL from Texas Air National Guard) are manly men and strong "heroes" while John Kerry (volunteer in the Vietnam war, wounded in action) and Max Cleland (triple amputee from wounds suffered during Vietnam war) are effete girly men and French-loving pussies."
As though any of this matters. FDR was not a combat Marine either. And Lincoln's military record was pretty spotty and uninspiring for the president who led the country through a civil war that took more lives than any other combat in which the US fought.
"Remember, the cliche says that Dick Cheney (5 deferments, other "priorities" during Vietnam war) and George W. Bush (AWOL from Texas Air National Guard) are manly men and strong "heroes" while John Kerry (volunteer in the Vietnam war, wounded in action) and Max Cleland (triple amputee from wounds suffered during Vietnam war) are effete girly men and French-loving pussies."
As though any of this matters. FDR was not a combat Marine either. And Lincoln's military record was pretty spotty and uninspiring for the president who led the country through a civil war that took more lives than any other combat in which the US fought.
Not that it matters. No, it wasn't the Republicans sending out spam with pictures of Bush cutting down trees in Crawford and Kerry in a wetsuit with a surfboard under his arm.
No, it isn't like the Rebulicans played the "manly ideal" card to death and thus deserve to get it tossed back in the their face.
No, not at all.
No, it isn't like the Rebulicans played the "manly ideal" card to death and thus deserve to get it tossed back in the their face.
No, not at all.
abi, I agree that Webb should really appeal to sane people on the right who worry that not backing the preznut's surge plan makes then tree huggers.
pt, how about the OK Corral pictures at the ranch w/ Bush walking in front and the Magnificent Four trailing just a step or so behind him (Meyers, Cheney, Rummy and Rice) - all choreographed to look like a Western movie with Bush as sheriff.
pt, how about the OK Corral pictures at the ranch w/ Bush walking in front and the Magnificent Four trailing just a step or so behind him (Meyers, Cheney, Rummy and Rice) - all choreographed to look like a Western movie with Bush as sheriff.
reality, youwrote:
"...Webb should really appeal to sane people on the right who worry that not backing the preznut's surge plan makes then tree huggers."
Watch out. Concern for the environment is becoming a cause for conservatives. Then what?
Meanwhile, Webb lives in an alternate reality that's linked to America's past, the past when the Frontier was still not fully settled and the known world ended at the Mississippi.
He's an ignoramus on matters of finance and the structure of the corporate world, which is not surprising for a guy who has spent most of his life either in government service or working for Hollywood studios.
He's got to get out a little more and learn how the business world works before he participates or authors legislation that will affect the economy.
Post a Comment
"...Webb should really appeal to sane people on the right who worry that not backing the preznut's surge plan makes then tree huggers."
Watch out. Concern for the environment is becoming a cause for conservatives. Then what?
Meanwhile, Webb lives in an alternate reality that's linked to America's past, the past when the Frontier was still not fully settled and the known world ended at the Mississippi.
He's an ignoramus on matters of finance and the structure of the corporate world, which is not surprising for a guy who has spent most of his life either in government service or working for Hollywood studios.
He's got to get out a little more and learn how the business world works before he participates or authors legislation that will affect the economy.
<< Home
