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Man Overboard
washington post ^ | March 21, 2006 | Ruth Marcus

Posted on 03/20/2006 9:13:18 PM PST by metalmanx2j

I have a new theory about what's behind everything that's wrong with the Bush administration: manliness.

"Manliness" is the unapologetic title of a new book by Harvey C. Mansfield, a conservative professor of government at Harvard University, which makes him a species as rare as a dissenting voice in the Bush White House. Mansfield's thesis is that manliness, which he sums up as "confidence in the face of risk," is a misunderstood and unappreciated attribute.

Manliness, he writes, "seeks and welcomes drama and prefers times of war, conflict, and risk." It entails assertiveness, even stubbornness, and craves power and action. It explains why men, naturally inclined to assert that "our policy, our party, our regime is superior," dominate in the political sphere.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: castrati; manliness; mansfield; rush; rushlimbaugh; ruthmarcus
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1 posted on 03/20/2006 9:13:19 PM PST by metalmanx2j
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It seems that Ruth listens to Rush . . . expect a SITYS on tomorrow's show. Speaking of Rush take a peek at Erica Jong Fantasizes About Bubba to laugh.
2 posted on 03/20/2006 9:15:37 PM PST by Milhous (Sarcasm - the last refuge of an empty mind.)
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To: metalmanx2j
I explain to my customers who know me as a conservative what I like best about "W". He doesn't' give a crap about how I or they feel. As he says, "He appreciates their point of view." Thats man talk for STFU.
3 posted on 03/20/2006 9:18:10 PM PST by badpacifist (Schadenfreude from the show me state)
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To: metalmanx2j

Better manly than metrosexual.


4 posted on 03/20/2006 9:19:22 PM PST by peyton randolph (As long is it does me no harm, I don't care if one worships Elmer Fudd.)
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To: metalmanx2j

"...which makes him a species as rare as a dissenting voice in the Bush White House..."

Horse shizer. Want to see rare dissent? Try XXXtoon. After saying "feel free to disagree" a member of his Admin did. she was castigated by everyone and their liberal grandmother.

Please. Nothing is more dissent unfriendly than a communist. Need more proof? Leon Trotsky.


5 posted on 03/20/2006 9:19:32 PM PST by Killborn (Pres. Bush isn't Pres. Reagan. Then again, Pres. Regan isn't Pres. Washington. God bless them all.)
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To: Killborn

Oh yeah, one more. Sec. State. Colin Powell. Had he not retired, would still be the Sec. XXX fires and arkancides more people than his bimbo eruptions


6 posted on 03/20/2006 9:21:35 PM PST by Killborn (Pres. Bush isn't Pres. Reagan. Then again, Pres. Regan isn't Pres. Washington. God bless them all.)
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To: metalmanx2j; AntiGuv

I saw an interview/discussion on the subject of manliness between Mansfield and Naomi Wolf on CSPAN's booknotes last night. Mansfield was pretty vague, and over-generalizing. Real men are risk takers for the joy of risk itself, yet calm, yet given to fits of violence and rage. Whatever. Naomi gave him a rough time, in a polite way. Mansfield just doesn't have enough depth on the subject. It is all just too complex. Someone else needs to write something a bit more serious on the topic. It is a topic for the long distance runner. Sprints won't cut it.


7 posted on 03/20/2006 9:22:02 PM PST by Torie
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To: metalmanx2j

Many manly men at Free Republic....


An a few manly women too!


8 posted on 03/20/2006 9:25:31 PM PST by Chickensoup (The water in the pot is getting warmer, froggies.The water in the pot is getting warmer, froggies.)
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To: metalmanx2j
What a load of sh*t!

Because of 'manly' men Ms. Marcus can make 6-figures disparaging the very foundations of her success.

I got news for you, toots. The world is a wicked, evil place. And without 'manly' men you'd be an uneducated sperm receptacle.
9 posted on 03/20/2006 9:25:47 PM PST by Spruce (Keep your mitts off my wallet)
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To: Spruce
Well said. Good grief! What would a Ruth know about manliness. Does she live in San Fransisco??
10 posted on 03/20/2006 9:32:27 PM PST by Fielding (Sans Dieu Rien)
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To: metalmanx2j

bump


11 posted on 03/20/2006 9:35:34 PM PST by lesser_satan
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To: metalmanx2j
If Mansfield wants to know what manliness looks like, I'll send him my picture.
12 posted on 03/20/2006 9:54:49 PM PST by Savage Beast (The Democrat Party: The Party of S & M (Sociopaths and Morons))
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To: Torie
I agree with you, Tor. I found Mansfield a bit shallow and his generalizations silly.

For example, I--The Gold Standard--do not like taking risks for the joy of it, and I seldom if ever have a fit of rage and never of violence.

13 posted on 03/20/2006 9:59:50 PM PST by Savage Beast (The Democrat Party: The Party of S & M (Sociopaths and Morons))
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To: metalmanx2j

A female telling everyone what manliness is.

Right.


14 posted on 03/20/2006 10:23:17 PM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: Spruce

"What a load of sh*t!

Because of 'manly' men Ms. Marcus can make 6-figures disparaging the very foundations of her success.

I got news for you, toots. The world is a wicked, evil place. And without 'manly' men you'd be an uneducated sperm receptacle."

Well said. I'll "ditto" all of that...


15 posted on 03/20/2006 10:25:57 PM PST by RavenATB (Patton was right...)
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To: metalmanx2j
There are, no doubt, comforting aspects to the manly presidency; think Bush with a bullhorn on top of the smoldering ruins of the twin towers. After a terrorist attack, no one's looking for a sensitive New Age president. Even now, being a strong leader polls at the top of qualities that voters most admire in Bush.

But the manliness of the Bush White House has a darker side that has proved more curse than advantage.


Just when I thought the W.P. couldn't sink lower.
16 posted on 03/20/2006 10:31:25 PM PST by Number57
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To: metalmanx2j
What would Ruthie or anyone else at the Post know about manliness, except perhaps as an abstract anthropological study? The most frightened female PFC in Iraq has more manliness in her than anyone in the Post's well-appointed health club.

What I do see here is a lot of pretentious idiots pursing their lips and attempting to analyze something beyond their wit. So let me ask a question - did the Post do the "manly" thing and publish the Danish cartoons or did it...well, we all know what it did. Hope the editorial board doesn't suffer too much from menstrual cramps.

17 posted on 03/20/2006 10:49:51 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Mo1; eeevil conservative; Txsleuth
Remember what we watched on cspan-2 last night?? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The administration's manliness doesn't stop at the water's edge. Pushing another round of tax cuts in 2003, Vice President Cheney sounded like a warrior claiming tribute after victory in battle: "We won the midterms. This is our due," Cheney reportedly said.

After the 2004 election, Bush exuded the blustering self-assurance of a president who had political capital to spend -- or thought he did -- and wasn't going to think twice before plunking down the whole pile on Social Security.

(snip)

And the administration's claim of almost unfettered executive power is the ultimate in manliness: how manly to conclude that Congress gave the go-ahead to ignore a law without it ever saying so; how even manlier to argue that your inherent authority as commander in chief would permit you to brush aside those bothersome congressional gnats if they tried to stop eavesdropping without a warrant.

Mansfield writes that he wants to "convince skeptical readers -- above all, educated women" -- that "irrational manliness deserves to be endorsed by reason." Sorry, professor: You lose. What this country could use is a little less manliness -- and a little more of what you would describe as womanly qualities: restraint, introspection, a desire for consensus, maybe even a touch of self-doubt. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This miserable woman and her opinion are 100 times more unappetizing than Mansfield's .. probably a bud of Naomi's.

18 posted on 03/20/2006 11:00:35 PM PST by STARWISE (They (Rats) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author:)
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To: Mo1; eeevil conservative; Txsleuth
Aha: "Harvey C. Mansfield, a conservative professor of government at Harvard University, which makes him a species as rare as a dissenting voice in the Bush White House.
19 posted on 03/20/2006 11:01:58 PM PST by STARWISE (They (Rats) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author:)
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To: metalmanx2j

There's nothing sexier than a manly man conservative. The libs can have the metrosexuals.....and Hillary Clinton.


20 posted on 03/20/2006 11:08:01 PM PST by peggybac (Tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing)
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