W Stands For Wimp..So Why Do Manly Men Love Him?

[AuntPatsy]

By BRIAN J. FOLEY
The things seem inextricably linked: an SUV, a man's arm cocked out the driver's window, Bush-Cheney 2004 bumper sticker. Message: President George W. Bush is the candidate of Manly Men. But why do Manly Men support him?

Is it because...Bush was a war hero? No, he avoided Vietnam by joining a National Guard squadron, certain never to leave the Home Front.

Is it because...Bush was a jock? Well, no. He barely played sports in school. Instead, he was a cheerleader.
Because...he dominated the business world? Again, no. Rich friends bailed him out of his oil ventures. Taxpayers bought the new stadium when he co-owned the Texas Rangers. As Byron York wrote in the conservative National Review Online, Bush's business career is "a complicated tale of family connections, hard work, and sweet deals, topped off by a taxpayer-subsidized baseball bonanza that may leave some Republicans feeling queasy about how their candidate got rich."

Bush's specific brand of talk, his admirers say, shows that he's "decisive." The Bush campaign seized upon this idea and has relentlessly attacked John Kerry -- a combat veteran who says he can win the Iraq war -- as indecisive, a wimp, a "flip-flopper." The worst thing about flip-flopping, apparently, is not that it might show dishonesty, but that it reveals weakness. The tactic seems to be working. The label has stuck to Kerry so much that you can buy "John Kerry flip flop sandals."

But a look at Bush's record reveals that HE'S a flip-flopper. Bush wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." Six months later, Bush said, "I truly am not that concerned about him." Candidate Bush said gay marriage was an issue for states to decide. As president he pushes to amend our Constitution to outlaw gay marriage nationwide. Bush opposed creating the Independent 9-11 Commission. Then, under pressure, he supported it. First he promised that we'd win the war on terror. Then last month, he said that the war is "un-winnable" ñ but the next day said it is not only winnable, but that we're winning it. None of these flip-flops, however, has punctured the myth that Bush is "decisive."

http://www.counterpunch.org/foley09182004.html