Solved: Why Tweety has a crush on Shrub in his jeans

[UTUSN]

This column (a.k.a., piece of crap) ran in my local paper from the Philadelphia Inquirer and one Karen HELLER.

It was immediately irritating because of the picture of Shrub in his "cowboy" garb, jeans, big belt buckle, long sleeves rolled up to his elbows, in mid-stride (not on a horse, as Vicente FOX testifies), shirt clinging in the wind to his torso, un-hatted head turned slightly sidewise, eyes crinkling in the sun, macholly oblivious to the wind's making his coiffure flit. (on Edit: Found the pic online: )



This was supposed to be one example of cowboy machismo. The other pictures were of Clint EASTWOOD, an unnamed "real" cowboy from a ranch in California, and John WAYNE in an odd pose: A shot from head to knees, sideways, hand in back pocket, BUTT STICKING OUT, weight on right leg, left leg stepping out. Oh, and there was a headshot of Senator CLINTON, mouth open, grimacing angrily, fingerpointing.

And in the first quote is my local paper's headline and caption to the pictures, which did not appear in the Inquirer's online version.


**********QUOTE*******

THE COWBOY WAY

>> The United States is still the land of wild west culture and macho mystique


.... (caption to pics) A cowboy, right, takes a break from moving cattle at Leonard Brooks Ranch in Jamestown, Calif., to their summer grazing grounds in the mountains. President(sic) George (Shrub), top left, and actors like Clint Eastwood, bottom left, exhibit American machismo.

*********UNQUOTE******


The pic of Shrub and the caption were more irritating than whatever the columnist was trying to say. But the "mystique" appears to be made up of cliches that are glamorous only to Tweety and others drinking something hallucinatory. "Cowboy" is derrogatory in diplomatic circles, and "machismo" has connotations of "wife beating" and probably "hate crimes" in low income groups and Third World countries (of underdeveloped consciousness).

I won't broadbrush Philly, but will say the misplaced fantasy of Tweety and Ms HELLER derives from a parochial life experience. I'll post an e-mail to her next.



*******QUOTE*******

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/11263351.html

Karen Heller | Land of cowboy culture and macho mystique

By Karen Heller
Inquirer Columnist

.... We have a Texan in the White House (by way of Andover, Yale and Harvard), buttressed by a semi-straight-shooting Wyoming man in full - two grand Tetons of testosterone more prone to waging war, clearing brush and shooting quail then(sic) introspection or getting within an acre of their feminine sides - that is, if they even have them.

Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are duking it out to see quien es mas macho: The former Mafia-hunting U.S. attorney of New York or the long-term guest at the Hanoi Hilton? (The answer, of course, is Ron Paul.)

Meanwhile, questions persist as to whether Hillary Clinton is "tough" enough to be president, as if estrogen were a liability. No one bothers to ask if the 16 male Democratic and Republican candidates are empathetic enough, or will ask for directions if they get horribly lost in a Middle East quagmire. ....

In serious male movies, there's far more blood than women, who make fleeting appearances for precisely two reasons: the left breast and the right.

Consider Brokeback Mountain which is, after all, a gay cowboy love story of few words yet requires the breasts of both Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway. ....


-------------------------------------------------------

Contact staff writer Karen Heller at 215-854-2586 or [e-mail]. To read her recent work: go.philly.com/karenheller.

********UNQUOTE*******

[knitter4democracy]

1. Um, "Tetons" means breasts, actually. It's kind of funny.

As for the rest, I'm really not sure what her point is. Awfully odd essay.

[Bitwit1234]

2. This is why the FCC wants to consolidate more TV and newspapers

they are getting the republican side out on all things, but, people, there are still some newspapers that tell both sides of the story. That give us the crooked and corrupt things the republicans are pulling here and abroad. They have to stop it. Just like in this character assassination.

Can you imagine the crap if someone wrote an article about bush being afraid of horses. That didn't last long. How about his "cheerleading" days. Hell some of those macho nuts would burn the newspaper down.

[marmar]

3. That recalls this classic piece by Eric Alterman:

from The Nation:



The Many Man-Crushes of Chris Matthews
Eric Alterman



Chris Matthews is not known as a particularly right-wing television talk-show host nor, by the standards of the profession, a particularly foolish one. NBC considers him to be such an asset, it gave him his own Sunday program, in addition to the nightly cable shoutfest Hardball.

Within MSNBC, Matthews represents the "center" between the right-wing Tucker Carlson and the taken-for-a-liberal Keith Olbermann. It's worth taking a closer look, therefore, at just what passes for classy, centrist and sane in today's Fox-driven cable cosmos.

Like anyone who spends much time on live TV, Chris Matthews tends to say a lot of silly things. (I did too during the two years I was so employed.) But patterns and passions tell a tale, and those exhibited by Matthews are revealing. Like Elvis, Matthews can't help falling in love. And also like the King--who developed a thing for both Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover late in life--the object of Matthews's affection is invariably a tough-talking, self-styled Republican macho-man. And when he gets going on one of these guys, his style of punditry owes more to, say, Tiger Beat or Teen People than the Trilateral Commission.

Going back to 9/11, Matthews found himself blown away not by Bush's political or military response but by his ability to throw a baseball. He compared the man to--I kid you not--Ernest Hemingway. "There are some things you can't fake," he explained breathlessly. "Either you can throw a strike from sixty feet or you can't. Either you can rise to the occasion on the mound at Yankee Stadium with 56,000 people watching or you can't. On Tuesday night, George W. Bush hit the strike zone in the House that Ruth Built.... This is about knowing what to do at the moment you have to do it--and then doing it. It's about that 'grace under pressure' that Hemingway gave as his very definition of courage."

And remember that now-infamous Mission Accomplished moment? True, Matthews did not join his guest G. Gordon Liddy in admiring--still not kidding--the President's pretend penis, but he was no less focused on Bush's fashion statements. "He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West," he cooed. "We're proud of our President. Americans love having a guy as President, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like Clinton.... Women like a guy who's President. Check it out." .....(The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/alterman )

[AndyTiedye]

13. Good Thing I Haven't Eaten Breakfast Yet

That quote would have made me :puke: it up.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Yeah, I look at the photo in the original post and I hear the theme to

"The Big Country" in my head . . .

[Snarkoleptic]

5. Maybe he likes the uber-nimrod look * also sports.

[marmar]

6. When bad clothes happen to bad people....

:scared:

[Cha]

8. Now, he looks like

someone put some clothes on a turtle.

[Vanje]

9. Is that a presidential seal on those socks?

Are those Coullottes, or some sort of dirndle kilt?

[tanyev]

10. I'm convinced Il Dunce has the presidential seal on his briefs.

At least it will help him put them on facing the right way.

[Cha]

7. What a joke..

Albeit, a filthy one.. The monkeyczar dressed up as a cowpoke.. Tweety can be dreamin' about faux cowpokes in hell with steaming piles of shit e-man-ating from the bowels.

[City Lights]

11. The wrinkled look is so fitting for him.

Is that what supposedly makes this a macho look? :puke: He disgusts me. This "outfit" seems to be the one he dons most while down at the pig farm. Makes me wonder how many shirts he has in the pile on the floor. From the looks of it, he must wear it 24/7 too. What an embarrassing slob.

[UTUSN]

12. My e-mail to her. Drop her a line, peeps!1 You can do it better than I can

Being a Democratic voter, I was instantly irritated by the picture of Shrub in "cowboy" drag that accompanied your column, "Land of cowboy culture and macho mystique," on several grounds, and before I even read your piece.

After years of watching Chris MATTHEWS swoon over Shrub's bluejeans, I wondered whether the Philadelphia origin of his and the Inquirer's was a factor in this, but resisted broadbrushing because of high hopes of Democratic victory there.

I've heard that writers don't control the headlines and captions, so you might be interested in what appeared in my local paper:

(The Shrub pic)

This was supposed to be one example of cowboy machismo. The other pictures were of Clint EASTWOOD, an unnamed "real" cowboy from a ranch in California, and John WAYNE in an odd pose: (John WAYNE:: ) A shot from head to knees, sideways, hand in back pocket, BUTT STICKING OUT, weight on right leg, left leg stepping out. Oh, and there was a headshot of Senator CLINTON, mouth open, grimacing angrily, fingerpointing.

This quote is my local paper's headline and caption to the pictures, which did not appear in the Inquirer's online version.

(Local paper quote here.)

There was Shrub in his "cowboy" garb, jeans, big belt buckle, long sleeves rolled up to his elbows, in mid-stride (not on a horse, as Vicente FOX testifies), shirt clinging in the wind to his torso, un-hatted head turned slightly sidewise, eyes crinkling in the sun, macho-ly oblivious to the wind's making his coiffure flit. The whole "ranch" concept is widely known to have been a cheap gimmick, the pig farm's having been bought ahead of running for office and to be abandoned for city life when he quits squatting in the White House. The pig farm setting also served as punishment to the Eastern reporters.

But the "mystique" in your column appears to be made up of cliches that are glamorous only to MATTHEWS and others drinking something hallucinatory. "Cowboy" is derrogatory in diplomatic circles, and "machismo" has connotations of "wife beating" and probably "hate crimes" in low income groups and Third World countries (of underdeveloped consciousness).

I won't broadbrush Philly, but will say, charitably, that your and MATTHEWS' misplaced fantasy derives from a parochial life experience. If you and other national media contributors had done the LEAST possible investigation into Shrub's record as governor in a Weak-Governor-system state in 2000, our country and the world would have been saved much loss of life and treasure. A real reporter, Molly IVINS, had done all of the hard work for all of you in her columns and books. All you had to do was crib and run with it.

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin need to revive the Festrunk brothers

Instead of Georg and Yortuk, you'd have George and DICK, ruminating about how all the FOXES will be admiring the BIG BULGES in their TIGHT AMERICAN PANTS.

They'd have to dumb-down the dialogue a bit, but it'd work.

[Virginia Dare]

15. Dupe!

should have looked upthread first!

[Virginia Dare]

16. Any doubt the pic in the OP was STAGED?

probably by that priestess of Bush lies and propaganda Karen Hughes.

[Auntie Bush]

24. He really does have the presidential seal on his socks!

The man is SICK! So am I :puke:
And yes he also must have the seal right over his fake bulge. One in front and one in back.

[riverdeep]

17. I'm not sure why we should be contacting her over this.

I read the piece. It reads like someone assigned her a piece at the last second and she just pinched one out. It's badly written, and full of superficial observations, but nothing to get the panties in a bunch about.

On the substance-"it seems as though we may be experiencing a machismo correction." Isn't this what they said immediately after 9/11? How it was now a time for big brave firefighters and soldiers and whatnot? I would like to point out to them that machismo also set the whole thing in motion in the first place. From occupying Muslim nations for the purpose of control which poked a stick in Bin Laden's eye (would we allow Germany to set up troops in Montana?), to the bravery it takes to fly planes into the Towers. Yes, it takes bravery to do that. Bravery is neutral.

[UTUSN]

25. Thank you. n/t

[monmouth]

18. Is there a pic of John Wayne when he "dressed" up???...lol.

[kskiska]

19. John Wayne "in an odd pose"

[monmouth]

20. OMG, that is the one... I'm laughing I can hardly type. Many, many thanks.

[justjones]

22. I am guessing this is not a photoshopped pic....

is there something about John Wayne I missed? He looks like he is holding a purse and has on women's shoes....please let me in on the inside joke.

[Berry Cool]

21. I think there's a misunderstanding here of what the writer was trying to say.

I think she was just attempting to "observe" the fascination with the macho sterotype who doesn't need women, not "approve" of it or say it was a good thing. If anything else, she seemed to be saying it was a bad thing--a world in which there is no place for women or values that aren't tough and macho.

No, she didn't write it particularly well or forcefully, which is probably why her point was lost on some.

[UTUSN]

23. Lost on "moi" n/t

[daleo]

26. I wonder if the 'cowboy' picture of Bush was photoshopped

You really can't trust photos these days. There's a lot of photoshop body sculpting in the media.