Laurie and Debbie say:
In an hilarious and on-target post about how male reporters and commentators respond to George Bush, Digby asks: “Perhaps someone can explain to me the strange male attraction to George W. Bush. …
“From day one, DC nerds like [Joe] Klein have had massive man-crushes on Junior, describing him as ‘loose-hipped’ and ‘swaggering’ and showing all manner of strange obsession with his masculine body language. ”
We have an answer. Bush’s style of self-confidence and studied ignorance, coupled with his “just folks” manner, are the iconic symbols of a WASP-y masculinity so oversimplified as to be completely untrue. The liberal male press corps doesn’t get revved up like this when Bush has his “deer in the headlights” look, or when his public body language is, as Klein described it, “cautious.” They love the swagger, the arrogance, the nobody-matters-but-me message, a comfortingly stereotypical (and useless) Hollywood masculinity, which can be extremely attractive to men who don’t have a handle on their own role in the world. Of course, a constant barrage of media stereotypes doesn’t help anyone figure out who they really want to be.
This goes deeper than an answer to Digby; it goes a long way toward explaining why people who want clean air, decent wages, and a controlled national debt still support George Bush.