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.
If the internet existed in its present form during the 80's I have no doubt that there would be women on it declaring RWR to be sexy. I mentioned earlier in this thread that I didn't know anyone personally who thought Rummy was sexy; then I found FR and, lo and behold I find there are others out there who have seen in him what I have.
And for what it's worth, I had a little thing (just a small one :) ) for Ollie during the Iran/Contra hearing.
Well, you're right, but we just didn't get to see them celebrated the way they should have been. If a child wasn't luckey enough to have one for a father (or close neighbor) he/she didn't even know about them. The guys on TV would cry if they got a hangnail. Policemen and firemen were talked about as though they were neanderthals.
This is going to sound funny, but you know what I miss the most? I miss having doors opened for me. It still happens on rare occasions and I always make sure I have a BIG smile and BIG thank you for those thoughtful enough to remember this graceful gesture.
Those women were idiots! And bimbos for wanting to have sex with a married man. I know Bubba and the Hildebeast do not have a "real" marriage, but still...
Now, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld...THOSE are attractive men! And I hope they are faithful to their wives, because that makes them even more attractive!
I've done that all my life, I even open the SUV's door for my wife; she likes it... :o)
Some of we geezer's have it and some don't... :o)
PS I'm Rummy's age...
Thanks, Dad! Be there for me when I get there!
It seems even some who should know better are jumping on the Rock Star bandwagon.What you are seeing, what you are protesting, is the media's traditionally effective manipulation that can make anyone a celebrity, and then break them at whim.
You're rational to be concerned. In government you want the honorable and competitent, not celebrities. You want people who've earned our respect and gratitude, not those who, craving our aduration and homage, are dependent upon the media.
The media is not our friend or servant. It is a tool by which we are manipulated by those who foot the bill.
So keep on trying to persuade as you're doing, but don't expect to beat the media sensationalism. You can't. They of the flashy soundbites leave the momentarily shallow with little to sustain the convictions they really are lacking. Many will hunger for more eventually, and you, who'll have been supplying it all along, will have gotten better from practice. Don't get frustrated.
FR is at the forefront of being not just the most rapid provider of news, but in providing more of us a forum for exploring these issues more deeply. Just don\t give up. And remember to think of our host periodically. Thank you John Robinson.
As for John Kerry......YUK!!!
Obviously you were not paying attention when Kenedy was President. I remember the "He is so-o-o-o good looking" conversations when listening to the conversations of adults back then.
One of my favorite excersizes has been in using Bill and Hillary Clinton as examples of how I don't want my kids to turn out. Define the word 'LIAR' to them and you can't find a better personification of it than Bill Clinton.
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.