Posted on 12/13/2010 2:27:08 PM PST by chessplayer
Via Greg Hengler, behold as the master of the weepy celebrity confessional interview, whos been turning emotional problems into news for decades, suddenly discovers how off-putting tears can be. Shes right that theres a different standard for crying when women politicians do it, but Im not so sure that that difference benefits men. If Pelosi cried, shed risk being branded as soft but shed still be well within the bounds of acceptable female emotional display. Hillarys tears just before the 2008 New Hampshire primary were a media sensation, but she suffered no real damage from it; on the contrary, some analysts speculated afterward that they helped her in the voting booth by humanizing her. When a male pol cries, hes so far outside the paradigm of strong, stoic masculine leadership that not only does he come off as weak, he risks looking like a head case. (Muskie is, of course, the ultimate example.) No one here explicitly calls Boehner weak but Whoopis mockery makes her opinion of him clear enough, and of course Barbaras got the head case narrative covered. Youd think Joy would seize the opportunity to call him a wimp or worse, but poor woman, shes so stuck on her image of Republicans as heartless monsters that she cant escape it even during a segment about a Republican who cries at the drop of the hat. In fact, her argument here that Boehner only cries for himself is contradicted by the bit that opens the segment, when he tears up at the thought of protecting the American dream for schoolchildren.
I actually agree with her.
So do I. But these Libs are the ones who were trotting out Marlo Thomas and Rosie Grier a couple of decades ago to teach all our boys that “it’s all right to cry”. They are really in no position to criticize.
That’s a great scene.
I am sorry but this guy needs to quit weeping in public. We need steely-eyed and logical resolve, not some weepy emotional response to things.
I cried when Obama was elected.........
Barbara Walters: Generals dont cry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG1G7dpYl9w
“I’ve been scared in every war I’ve ever been in,” he told Barbara Walters, who interviewed him on 20/20. “Any man who doesn’t cry scares me a little.”
It’s a device.
It’s not about crying in and of itself, but there is a time and a place for everything, and Boehner has picked the wrong time.
I was thinking back at the look we all loved, and that was the look on Cheney’s face in the photo at zero’s inauguration when he, zero and Bush were talking. Kind of a smirk. :)
And, in case you didn't see the interview...
(on camera): On election night, what made you sad, what -- what got to you that night?
J. BOEHNER: I was talking, trying to talk about the fact that I've been chasing the American Dream my whole career. There're some -- some things that are real -- very difficult to talk about -- family, kids. I can't go to a school anymore. I used to go to a lot of schools. And you see all these little kids running around. Can't talk about it.
STAHL: Why?
J. BOEHNER: Making sure that these kids have a shot at the American Dream, like I did. It's important.
.....
J. BOEHNER: And I think at the top of our list is providing for the safety and the security of the American people.
STAHL (on camera): Remember when Ed Muskie cried?
J. BOEHNER: Oh yeah.
STAHL: That wasn't good.
J. BOEHNER: Wasn't good. That's all right.
STAHL: Well...
J. BOEHNER: Listen... STAHL: ... are you trying not to?
J. BOEHNER: No. What you see is what you get. I'm -- I know who I am. I'm comfortable in my own skin. And everybody who knows me knows that I get emotional about certain things.
And what about Bubba, biting his lower lip...???
I never was a fan.
Me three. Sarah Palin needs to take him hunting and help him find his cajones.
I didn’t hear any of these Progressive supporters saying anything like this when Pelosi was on TV tearing up about some homo that got wasted in California years ago.
Is that in freference to reports that Walters did, indeed, get it on with the Cuban butcher?
personally, i do not care to see a male leader shedding tears... unless it’s over something remarkably tragic, and even then, i prefer solemn composure... i have found that the more i speak in public, the easier it has come to be composed in emotional situations, like saying a eulogy at a funeral... i still feel the emotions, but i am able to hold them in...
I wish he would knock it off. I like him but he’s doing exactly what the media wants, giving them an excuse to bash Republicans and make them look weak. Stop the damn crying and let’s hear some real anger. Damn sissy’s.
You mean he has an emotional problem . . . just like Patsy Shroeder did a few years, Ba Ba . . . . Ba Ba Wa Wa, the left-headed dunce
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