LAT: Who's the Man? They Are (Bush and Kerry macho)

COLUMN ONE
Who's the Man? They Are
George Bush and John Kerry stand shoulder to shoulder in one respect: Macho is good. Very good. It's been that way since Jefferson's day.

By James Rainey, Times Staff Writer


....If it's not Kerry tossing a football across an airport tarmac, it's President Bush stomping around his Texas ranch in denim and cowboy boots. Bush waves the starter's flag at NASCAR's Daytona 500. Kerry blasts away at pheasant with a double-barreled shotgun....

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"When you have a war going on, usually the macho factor will prevail," said Joan Hoff, a Montana State University history professor and former president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency. "Bush feels it's to his advantage to keep foreign policy as a major issue. But when that comes up, I think you are going to see a lot of 'Who is tougher than whom.' "....

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"It's the Bush campaign, primarily, that's using the masculinity and macho themes," said Eric Davis, a political science professor at Middlebury College in Vermont. "In his speaking and the way he presents himself, down at the ranch in denim shirt and jeans; the tough talk, this is all designed to appeal to males who … don't want to associate with a party or candidate that's seen as soft."....

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But political handlers say there is a danger in striking the manly man pose too blatantly, and it can be summed up in one word: women. They will cast more votes than men in November. And although some female voters may crave a paternal figure they feel can protect the country, polls indicate more women remain preoccupied with so-called "soft" issues such as jobs, education and healthcare. In recent surveys, women tend to be more critical of Bush....


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-macho18mar18,1,6394999.story?coll=la-home-headlines

is sooooo last spring

V

Macho is just another catch phrase for neanderthal, and worse, a conservative man that expects women to stay in their place. True machos feel very uncomfortable with intelligent women because they don't do as they're told, and thus challenge the macho's authority.

He was a Cheerleader at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.
His father was once President of the USA.
He attended Harvard and Yale.
He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers.
He grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas.
He began his career in the Oil and Gas Industry.
His mother always wears pearls.

It doesn't fit any of his schools, does it? (Phillips? Yale?) Or is it descriptive of his actions and personality? Like Hester Prynne, who wore the Scarlet A as an adultress, was Bush forced to wear a Blue A, to denote he's a Blue-blooded Asshole?

as opposed to Phillips Exeter, with which it is not affiliated. You need to get up on your prep schools. ;-)

off the Segway and Kerry riding a motorcycle. Actually the whole thing is silly - could just run a picture of a belt buckle and Kerry or one could ------ignore it.

?Quien es mas macho???Senor Kerry esta mas macho.