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February 12, 2007
girlish infatuations with macho men
Is Giuliani an excessively macho man? And if so, do his GOP supporters have a "girlish infatuation" with him? Glenn Reynolds raises the question, with a link to Ann Althouse's discussion of how the Chicago Tribune's Steve Chapman frames this apparently serious issue: "The GOP has morphed from a party that reveres limited government to a party that is girlishly infatuated with executive authority."I think there are several assumptions there. One is whether the GOP reveres limited government as it should. That is certainly a legitimate question, and as a libertarian I share Chapman's concern. (I'm assuming he's some sort of libertarian asking the question in good faith. He wrote an anti-Iraq war piece for Reason three years ago, contributes to Townhall, criticized Mitt Romney's abortion position in Real Clear Politics, and has been accused of dodging the debate about the American origins of the Nazi salute -- so I think it's fair to say he's been around.) Chapman's second assumption is whether the GOP is in fact "girlishly infatuated" with executive authority, and whether that infatuation accurately targets Giuliani. I'm not sure accuracy is the goal so much as insinuation -- for this is a political hit piece in which Chapman does his best to paint a picture of Giuliani as a freedom-hating macho strong man, and the GOP as sycophantic girlish admirers. Explains Althouse (who is amused, but not buying), Chapman's analysis is "sexual imagery in political analysis": See, their masculinity is really feminine, because when they like a really masculine character like Rudy Giuliani, they're acting like girls (or gay guys) lusting after a macho man. I love sexual imagery in political analysis. There's also a lot of talk about Shakespeare in the linked piece. I love literary crap in political analysis too.I love literary crap too -- especially when it's crap, and I think Chapman might be a bit off in his thinking. He's also leaving out a key piece of sexual imagery in his political analysis, and he's been around long enough that naturally I wonder whether Chapman is making some sort of insinuation about this notorious picture:
I found it at a conspiracy site which describes the "macho fest" that went on: In his drag persona of 'Rudia', Giuliani went on to dance, to strip behind a screen, and to impersonate Marilyn Monroe's breathy singing to John F. Kennedy of 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President'. He convinced four of his five deputy mayors to attend in drag as well."Impersonating Marilyn Monroe is bad enough, but forcing his deputies to wear dresses? And with Julie Andrews? Geez! Talk about enabling perversion and degeneracy! And on top of that, ridiculing a dead Kennedy! No wonder that picture has caused him no end of grief with the conservative wing of the GOP, especially the humorless freepers like this commenter: Liberal Rudy lovers dismiss the dress photos posted in some of these threads as if they were some sort of ad hominem attack. What they fail to accept is that some of the photos were taken at a fundraiser for a radical gay group. In addition, he agreed to appear on the pornographic gay Showtime series "Queer as Folk" in drag to raise money for a project of that same gay group. His repeated public appearance in drag does give one pause before casting a vote for him as it says something of his lack of character and the dignity required in a President. The reasons that he appeared in drag say a great deal about his support for the radical gay agenda.While it didn't occur to the the Freepers to accuse the GOP of a "girlish infatuation" with macho man Giuliani, I think the well-known existence of that picture raises questions about just what Mr. Chapman might have been insinuating, and why he didn't provide his readers with the full story. I mean, we wouldn't want anyone to think macho man Giuliani might have an irreverent and ballsy sense of humor, would we? So, the insinuation is a wink-wink to those who have seen the picture, as well as an attempt to ridicule Republicans who Chapman believes are clueless dummies. Sorry, but this is the Internet, and that kind of concealment no longer works. Ironically, I think Giuliani has more balls than Chapman imagines, and I agree with Ann Althouse's characterization of his tone: Hey, no fair nominating such a strong candidate!I think she's right. It takes balls for a man to get made up like a woman and go out in public wearing a dress -- especially if he isn't into that sort of thing. You don't believe me? Try it.
But I will say this: in terms of humor and courage, I don't think Hillary's pants are comparable. Whether she'll ever be the macho man that Guiliani's accused of being is highly debatable. But it's not as if her party hasn't had an occasional girlish infatuation. Or sense of humor: At least, I'm pretty sure that was humor. (It's all been a long time ago.) MORE: I should probably add that when I said "humorles Freepers" I didn't mean to imply that all Freepers are humorless. Far from it. Nor did I mean to suggest that Giuliani's henchmen are all macho men. There's definitely humor in both camps (and possibly a few good macho girlie men, even if Google doesn't think so). posted by Eric on 02.12.07 at 08:19 AM |
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I can see it now: "Our candidate is a better mom than *yours*! Has better dresses, too!"
I really can picture that in a Giuliani against Hillary race.
Only in America!