Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Do ya think he's sexy? At nearly 70, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is TV's newest stud
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 12/29/01 | Beth Gillin

Posted on 12/29/2001 6:30:47 AM PST by veronica

He's vigorous. He's direct. At nearly 70, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is TV's newest stud.

Forget The Guardian's Simon Baker, Smallville's Tom Welling, or 24's Kiefer Sutherland. The sexiest man on television is a grandpop with a throaty laugh and a confidence so overpowering it's made entire countries go weak in the knees.

No doubt about it, Donald Rumsfeld is a stud muffin.

Oh sure, he's a bespectacled government bureaucrat pushing 70. But the secretary of defense has a quality that many women adore.

He's as self-assured as a bull in a cow pasture.

Next to this ex-Navy flyboy and self-made millionaire, humorless careerists are but empty suits, doubt-ridden heroes are boring, and sensitive New Age males look like big whiny babies.

Rumsfeld, in contrast, looks like a good time. In a recent interview, Larry King asked, "Secretary Rumsfeld . . . do you like this image? You now have this new image called sex symbol."

Rumsfeld laughed heartily and replied, "Oh, come on." But he seemed delighted, and later allowed that he could be a sex symbol "for the AARP."

He's direct, plainspoken, full of that quality John F. Kennedy so admired: vigor.

He enjoys sparring with reporters at news conferences. Exuding bonhomie, he gets his points across while revealing very little of what everybody is there to find out. These performances are among the best on television, depicted by political cartoonist Mike Peters as "Must See TV."

Rumsfeld is decisive, a quality Saturday Night Live recognized in a recent skit: The President is in a meeting, taking a call from boring Al Gore, who drones on and on while Bush's advisers point impatiently to their watches and Bush, a prisoner of his breeding, seeks a polite end to the conversation.

Rumsfeld strides in. Grasping the situation immediately, he grabs the receiver and barks, "Get off the phone, Al. Now!" A startled Gore hangs up.

Talk about a man of action.

In the Navy, Rumsfeld was a champion wrestler. Now, he hunts elk.

He's been around Washington forever - this is his second go-round as defense secretary - but it took a war to make him a celeb.

After attending Princeton University on a scholarship, he married his childhood sweetheart, Joyce, in 1954, served in the Navy, and did six years in Congress and four in the Nixon administration.

He was ambassador to NATO when President Gerald R. Ford called him back and made him the youngest defense secretary in the country's history. He wasn't well-liked. Over the years, he has annoyed people by ignoring criticism and pushing to get things done. He used to be called imperious. Now he's seen as determined.

He's also telegenic, which became apparent when the spotlight found him in September. The camera loves him. He's the media star of the war on terror.

He has reappeared on the scene at a time when popular culture is again embracing big-shouldered, go-for-it guys, from stoic Russell Crowe in the Oscar-winning Gladiator to bully Teddy Roosevelt in the best-selling Theodore Rex, to buff Will Smith as The Greatest in Ali.

Classical Roman virtues such as courage and determination, so passe in the high-flying '90s, are again in vogue.

Steely confidence is admired, in burly firemen, guys who attack armed hijackers with their bare hands, 19-year-olds who parachute into battlefields in the middle of the night - and straight-shooting Rummy, the senior with swagger.

Manly men, every one. It's good to have them back.


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: rumsfeld; rumsfeldpinglist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 141-159 next last
To: LADY J
I've been reading the posts about Power being an ingredient of adoration and that may be a plus - but Clinton and Kissinger both had power and they would NEVER make my list of men that I admire or would even want to know!!

Yeah, what you said.

81 posted on 12/29/2001 8:38:16 AM PST by Marylander
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: Jhoffa_
Well, I also have to admit that even though Rumsfeld is older than my dad (and almost twice my age), I still think he's handsome and I adore his very dry sense of humor.

So yeah, I guess I do have a little bit of a crush on him. :-D

82 posted on 12/29/2001 8:44:25 AM PST by NYC GOP Chick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Creightongrad
No, it's Bawnee Fuuank.
83 posted on 12/29/2001 8:47:00 AM PST by tillacum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Slyfox
"Bill Clinton forced all men into the gutter..." I know you didn't mean this, Fox--not you, not me, and not millions of our brothers. But many--men and women--readily jumped right into the gutter with him--including many "celebrities", many politicians, and most of the so-called "journalists" of the mainstream media. History has recorded for all time just who these people are and how ready they were for the gutter, which is exactly where they belong and will remain for all time. It is refreshing to see people recognize true virtue and honor.
84 posted on 12/29/2001 8:49:32 AM PST by Savage Beast
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Mamzelle
This guy is as cute as a bug

Agreed. I'd make his hot chocolate any night!!

85 posted on 12/29/2001 8:50:10 AM PST by Churchillspirit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Protect the Bill of Rights
Compare that to John Edwards who is good-looking, but nothing more. Even snakes are pretty, but sexy? No way.

Why is the media is always trying to foist Edwards off on the public as being handsome (along with John Kerry)? I don't see the attraction with either one of them.

86 posted on 12/29/2001 8:55:02 AM PST by jgdiamond
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Geezerette
Yes, and dontcha love the way Rummy deals with the media?!

Yes I do, as a matter of fact! I find it funny that even though he slaps them down they don't seem to resent him for it. I bet it's because he has earned their R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

87 posted on 12/29/2001 8:57:32 AM PST by jgdiamond
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: NYC GOP Chick
"...that's more attractive than a high-profile married man who's easily available for nookie." There's a counterpart to that too. A real man wants a real woman--not some sleaze-bag. A little piece of nookie is always available, but who's desperate enough to want to settle for that? Certainly not me.
88 posted on 12/29/2001 8:59:04 AM PST by Savage Beast
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: McGavin999
Feminists tried to drain the testosterone out of the male population, but they were doomed to failure. We've just got too damned much of it, and we just keep on manufacturing it all around the clock. I don't think we real men were ever out of vogue, not with real women. Maybe with feminazis...Liberal fruits...and other assorted jackasses.
89 posted on 12/29/2001 9:10:54 AM PST by Savage Beast
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: Oschisms
If you shared a cubicle with the likes of Richard Berke, you would be starved for ANY male attention, no matter how boorish.

That's the funniest thing I've read so far today. :-D

Oh, and I've been doing some serious shopping at a certain store, even ordering over the web when I can't find it in the store. :-)

90 posted on 12/29/2001 9:13:01 AM PST by NYC GOP Chick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: veronica
He's as self-assured as a bull in a cow pasture.

And hands out pearls of wisdom to the dimwits (Democrats) of the press corps...not B.S.

If I was younger, I'd get to the T-shirt shop and get a shirt silk-screened with something
like this:
"When I grow up,
I want to be a Rummy"
91 posted on 12/29/2001 9:21:15 AM PST by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Savage Beast
But many--men and women--readily jumped right into the gutter with him--including...

I agree with you. Clinton's main job in life, I believe, was to get all of us into the gutter with him. Some of the people you mentioned, the liberals, the celebrities, the mainstream media, all those who pandered to Clinton, worked like dogs to push us all down with them. (Everytime I hear a comedian cracking a masturbation joke I feel myself being pulled into the gutter.) I know I wasn't the only one fighting to get loose of their hold but none of us escaped being soiled by it all. When Dubya became President we finally could wash the gutter water off ourselves.

It does feel real good to be standing on the sidewalk once again.

92 posted on 12/29/2001 9:22:00 AM PST by Slyfox
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: NYC GOP Chick
I figured you'd make an appearance on this thread :-D Rummy is an anomaly in gov't in that he views competence as his highest goal, and when fighting a war, well, that's a good thing to aspire.So, you don't hear the prevarication or the hand wringing when he speaks;he just gets down to doing the job, and the media all thought this was going to be his undoing PRIOR to 9/11 when the stories of his unpopularity abounded.Tells you what the Washington press corp think of able,results oriented managers.Rummy believes in accountabilty, while his detractors don't, but, I'd say that is a hallmark of all natural leaders and good CEO's.
93 posted on 12/29/2001 9:23:51 AM PST by habs4ever
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: Askel5
.
94 posted on 12/29/2001 9:26:13 AM PST by nunya bidness
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: veronica
Rumsfeld strides in. Grasping the situation immediately, he grabs the receiver and barks, "Get off the phone, Al. Now!" A startled Gore hangs up.

I went into Overlaugh on that one. Funny because it's true.

Steely confidence is admired, in burly firemen, guys who attack armed hijackers with their bare hands, 19-year-olds who parachute into battlefields in the middle of the night - and straight-shooting Rummy, the senior with swagger.

Manly men, every one. It's good to have them back.

Yes!!!

95 posted on 12/29/2001 9:30:21 AM PST by bootless
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: veronica
No doubt about it, Donald Rumsfeld is a stud muffin.

Oh sure, he's a bespectacled government bureaucrat pushing 70. But the secretary of defense has a quality that many women adore.

He's as self-assured as a bull in a cow pasture.

The whole thing is a little demeaning, it seems to me. Rumsfeld never set out to be anything but what he is, a no-nonsense administrater who has a job to do, and didn't let the '90s change his view of the right way to do things. The only reason anyone considers him sexy is because Clinton gave people the idea that his power was sexy. (It sure wasn't that flabby, pasty flesh of his). No Clinton, no talk of someone like Rumsfeld being "sexy". To coin a phrase, "let's move on", and get the policy debate away from such silly talk, which diminishes the importance of the matters at hand.

Rummy Sexy?

96 posted on 12/29/2001 9:46:43 AM PST by Defiant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Slyfox
I knew a few would get past my first sentence to see what I was driving at. Having seen some of your other work, it's not surprising you responded with understanding.

Let me help improve your morale a bit more. You wrote:

1. Bill Clinton forced all men into the gutter as he made himself, with the media's help, the lowest common denominator.
2.It is refreshing to see people recognize true virtue and honor it.
3.It's just that we are working overtime to pull ourselves out of the gutter Clinton forced us all into, women included.
1. (I think you meant Clinton forced the standard into the gutter, as if he were the standard most men would strive for (actually reinforcing the media's Feminazi expectations). But what you wrote lets me stress a more important point.)
No Man can be forced into the gutter by Bill Clinton or anybody else unless willing. Others' choice of perceptions are not their fault. It's why the wise use a Godly standard, not the human, to establish their character. This is true even of those who don't call themselves religious. (We can thank God for that too.) :)

2.Yes it is. It's wonderful so many blossomed, that we recognize the real thing after so long a draught. It's also why articles like this one have popped up like toadstools after a soaking. See? The fungi, too, come out to the sites of known decay -- because that's all they know.

3.I doubt you were really there. But whether or not you were, you will help others see they're gonna be happier striving for the higher standard, and that is a very good standard to set for yourself. Keep it up. The battle has just begun.

97 posted on 12/29/2001 9:51:34 AM PST by Avoiding_Sulla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Savage Beast
Intelligence is the given that results in honesty.
98 posted on 12/29/2001 9:51:34 AM PST by abclily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: veronica
He's simply purrrfect!
99 posted on 12/29/2001 9:59:17 AM PST by paws_and_whiskers
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Defiant
"The whole thing is a little demeaning, it seems to me. Rumsfeld never set out to be anything but what he is, a no-nonsense administrater who has a job to do, and didn't let the '90s change his view of the right way to do things. The only reason anyone considers him sexy is because Clinton gave people the idea that his power was sexy."

Clinton NEVER gave sensible people the idea that his power was sexy. He just showed them that power can be sleazy!

Rumsfeld did not seek to have anyone think that he is sexy. WE decided that he was.

It's NOT demeaning to think someone is sexy and to say so!! To say that is to imply that we are incapable of having more than one thought at a time! We can be dead serious about politics - the war - and many other things and still think that Rummy is sexy!

100 posted on 12/29/2001 10:00:08 AM PST by LADY J
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 141-159 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson