MoDo: W.'s Stiletto Democracy

Maureen Dowd

It was remarkable to see President Bush lecture Vladimir Putin on the importance of checks and balances in a democratic society.

Remarkably brazen, given that the only checks Mr. Bush seems to believe in are those written to the "journalists" Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Karen Ryan, the fake TV anchor, to help promote his policies. The administration has given a whole new meaning to checkbook journalism, paying a stupendous $97 million to an outside P.R. firm to buy columnists and produce propaganda, including faux video news releases.

The only balance W. likes is the slavering, Pravda-like "Fair and Balanced" coverage Fox News provides. Mr. Bush pledges to spread democracy while his officials strive to create a Potemkin press village at home. This White House seems to prefer softball questions from a self-advertised male escort with a fake name to hardball questions from journalists with real names; it prefers tossing journalists who protect their sources into the gulag to giving up the officials who broke the law by leaking the name of their own C.I.A. agent.

(snip)

Mr. Bush and Condi Rice strut in their speeches - the secretary of state also strutted in Wiesbaden in her foxy "Matrix"-dominatrix black leather stiletto boots - but they shy away from taking questions from the public unless they get to vet the questions and audiences in advance.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/opinion/27dowd.html?hp

You are forgiven. At least for a few days.

-- If we do not wakefully intend,
we are subconsciously compelled --

Bush is pissed that Putin strangled Yukos Oil Co., and all this blather about democracy is a smokescreen to conceal Bush's frantic attempts to put a headlock on Putin. He even tried to get them bankruptcy protection (in a Texas court, no less!) It ain't gonna happen, but the show is too good to miss!

If Bush cared about democracy, he wouldn't be stomping it to death here at home. But that man has a nose for oil, whether in the Alaskan wilderness, Venezuela, Haiti, Russia, or elsewhere!

And given Mr. Bush's track record, when he's finished there won't be two drops of oil left in the tank for Americans. He's that good at failure! Which means that by the time we are finished with him, we are going to have a stronger, more powerful, less vulnerable democracy. In spite of Harvard's President Summers, even.

the following linked article..Glad to see the sharp eyed wits of those two newspapers doing a "tandem" attack! :D...this is great! :thumbs up: to the ladies of the top two newspapers for the "Beltway" crowd...

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washingtonpost.com
Condoleezza Rice's Commanding Clothes

By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 25, 2005; Page C01

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."

-Snip-

Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual.

Countless essays and books have been written about the erotic nature of high heels. There is no need to reiterate in detail the reasons why so many women swear by uncomfortable three-inch heels and why so many men are happy that they do. Heels change the way a woman walks, forcing her hips to sway. They alter her posture in myriad enticing ways, all of which are politically incorrect to discuss.

-Snip-

But the sexual frisson in Rice's look also comes from the tension of a woman dressed in vaguely masculine attire -- that is, the long, military-inspired jacket. When the designer Yves Saint Laurent first encouraged women to wear trousers more than 30 years ago, his reasons were not simply because pants are comfortable or practical. He knew that the sight of a woman draped in the accouterments of a man is sexually provocative. A woman was embracing something forbidden.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51640-20...