Why are so many of the GOP heterosexual male leaders such wimpy looking men? Sarah Palin knows why.

[David Zephyr]

Why is it that the male leaders of America's Republican Party who are clinging to that old dis-proven stereotype of manliness are hardly the paragons of that stereotype themselves?

Look I'm a gay guy, and I know that we guys, gay or straight, can not be painted with a broad brush. As one of my straight male friends told me once, some of the most butch guys he'd ever seen were gay men. Fortunately, all of those old old stereotypes regarding the quality of manliness just seem to fail, don't they? My dad, who wasn't a sportsman, a soldier, a hunter or a roughneck, was still all guy through and through.

You know, I used to feel somewhat sorry for straight guys when I was growing up because there were all these unspoken do's and don'ts that they had to conform to. Times have really changed now. Young straight guys can hang with gay guys and gals and never worry for a second that someone might get a wrong impression. What a change I've seen in my lifetime.

And yet, there's still a shrinking crowd of straight men who are clinging to those old stereotypes of manliness...and they are still epitomized in our public arena by Republican men who are in leadership positions within their party.

The great irony to this gay guy is that none of them exude that manliness stereotype themselves. At all.

I mean, in all seriousness, Mitt Romney is a prissy man. He's what my tobacco-spittin' uncle would call a "fancy pants" guy.

Let's face it: Mike Huckabee just screams "pathetic weakling" every time I look at him. And speaking of Huckabee, you know when I was growing up, from my gay youngster perspective, I noticed that most red-blooded straight boys wanted to play with trucks, play army, play football and rough and tumble. I don't remember any wanting to "play preacher" and dress up in suits and comb their hair all pretty and pretend they were preaching to old women with a stained glass window behind them. I dunno. Maybe your neighborhood was different, but no one ever "played preacher" in my neighborhood. We didn't have that game. I wonder if Mike Huckabee, Ralph Reed, Toni Perkins, Pat Robertson and Gary Bauer "played preacher" when they were young? Did they ask the other boys who were playing firemen to play preacher with them?

What what the hell do I know? Probably not a damned thing, but it just seems to this old homosexual with a life-long experience pondering these nutty things that wimpy heterosexual men most always tend to be chicken-hawks -- you know, the guys who dodge military service themselves, but love to talk big about going to war, "nuking" the enemy, and who have no problem with sending other people's kids to die in their wars. You know, truly wimpy, soft and pasty men like Richard Cheney, Trent Lott, Bill Frist, Lamar Alexander, Ari Fleisher, Glen Beck, and, well there's just too many of them to even name.

Is it just me, or do you also notice that none of the men I've named hardly match up to that manliness ideal that their matinee idol, Ronald Reagan had? I have to admit that Ronald Reagan really had that shtick down good. He was the Marlborough man even when he wasn't trying to be. But today's Republican national male leadership are missing that 'manliness characteristic' that they worship so much and try to emulate so much.

I think that this is precisely why Sarah Palin is so popular with the disappearing GOP base: she hunts and kills animals from the friggin' sky, she skins her kill and cooks it all on the griddle. She gives interviews while turkeys are beheaded behind her in plain sight. All enough to make that wussy John Boener hide his bronzer back inside his prissy little briefcase, huh?

Yes, sir. Sarah Palin is more like Ronald Reagan than all the rest of those weak, pasty and fancy-pants Republican men, and I think they know it. She shows them up for what they are: wimps!

Move over, Rudy, Mike, Lamar and Mitt! The protector of your beloved, yet archaic male stereotype of Republican manliness is none other than that going-rogue-woman from Alaska. And she's going to kick all of your wimpy asses in 2012.

[annabanana]

1. Hardly any of them have chins either. . . n/t

[Quantess]

11. I immediately thought of George Will

[David Zephyr]

14. Georgie, Porgy.

Puddin' and pie.

[Arugula Latte]

21. I thought of Mitchy Boy

[David Zephyr]

26. Arugula Latte, that photo makes my point. What a wimp.

Great pic.

[Quantess]

30. Not exactly eye candy, is he...

Yet oddly, his forehead looks botoxed.

[David Zephyr]

31. Oooh, here's another real macho, manly Republican male: Phil Gramm

[Arugula Latte]

50. His wife was once quoted that her first reaction upon meeting him was: "Ewww!"

[roguevalley]

36. Huckabee = Moral Oral

[David Zephyr]

37. Is that like Oral Roberts. And did Oral Roberts have a brother named Anal?

Gawd's two precious children, Anal and Oral Roberts.

[notadmblnd]

2. They're the nerds we all loved to hate in school.

They're all misfits and socially mal-adjusted. I can't imagine them being anything other than republicans.

[Lerkfish]

well, I was/am a nerd. and a treehugging liberal

so I think you're off on that characterization a bit.

[Echo In Light]

5. Agree...and I saw several different schools, all the same. Rich kids & jocks were the RWers

Not all, but it did tend to pan out that way whichever school it was.

[notadmblnd]

19. Really? I took you for a geek

I kid... I kid. No, really, I've always thought you were cool.

[Lerkfish]

23. well, straight A's, interested inscience and art, no dates...

with those black safety eyeglasses....

so yeah, a nerd!!

[JitterbugPerfume]

46. I love nerds

they are smart, interesting and cute:hi:

[Lerkfish]

48. *blushes*

[fascisthunter]

29. nah, nerds are fine with me, they are mal-adjusted DORKS

[Quantess]

33. No way. A lot of nerds grew up to be cool.

It's possible that some of those pasty old milquetoasts were popular in school.

[notadmblnd]

47. sure they did and they're all democrats

that ones that didn't are republicans.

[Lerkfish]

3. a righteous rant, I enjoyed it a lot to read.

interesing observations. I think there is a somatotype for tv evangelist/republican crackerhead that seems to even have their hair styled at the same place.

[David Zephyr]

8. Thanks!

Did you know any boys in your neighborhood wanting to "play preacher"? That's a strange thing, that "playin preacher", huh? ;-)

[Lerkfish]

13. nope, we were all GI joe guys. or superman or cowboys or spacemen

of course I'm 50, so there wasn't all the other things available nowadays, but I cannot imagine wanting to "play preacher", even though I attended church every sunday.

[DainBramaged]

4. What a great OP. and so true

Sarah Palin, the GOP man's man.............


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :applause:

[David Zephyr]

16. Thanks!

:)

[get the red out]

6. Left out Limbaugh

Now there's a manly man, right down to the anal cyst that kept him out of a war. :sarcasm:

Ewwww, pasty and puffy are right, nothing appealing in the GOPer leadership.

[David Zephyr]

10. Ah, shit! I went and left out Limbaugh from my righteous rant!

Yes, Rush Limbaugh would be the prototypical wimpy, pasty, weakling, cowardly Republican male.

And now you tell me!:)

[glitch]

12. and Rove and Beck and Hannity and O'Reilly and Delay and Cheney and Rummy and W

sure they weren't all doughy (the Pillsbury kind) but they were all pasty and most definitely over-compensating for something.

[glitch]

7. I think it's the self-loathing over-compensation that comes from failing to meet the shallow stereo-

types that our sick culture relentlessly promotes.

[Electric Monk]

9. Ahnold?

[David Zephyr]

15. With his orange hair and plastic surgery.

.

[Greyskye]

17. Lieberman

Lieberman is the one that I don't think of most when the topic of 'manliness' comes up.

[Arugula Latte]

22. Gah! He has got to be one of the ugliest mofos ever in politics, too.

[blm]

18. They ARE wimps - and THAT is why their fascist cronies bought control of most media - so they

could distort THEIR courage and virtues while attacking men like Gore, Cleland and Kerry.

They were ONLY able to do so with an eager newsmedia promoting THEIR false storyline.

If you asked regular people who get their news from broadcast television which of these past candidates is the life long hunter and the surest shot with a gun: Bush - Cheney - McCain - Palin - Kerry, how do you think they'd answer?

[David Zephyr]

20. So true, blm. "John Kerry killed communists with his bare hands." -- Barney Frank.

You are so on point, blm (as always).

John Kerry, Max Cleland, Al Gore.

Many people don't know that our Governor Gray Davis also is a war veteran and was recalled by the actor who plays war on TV.

Yeah, the media helped create these twisted images, for sure.

Never forget the "purple bandages" of the GOP national convention.

[mikeSchmuckabee]

24. I find it extremely prejudicial that

you characterize these degenerates as heterosexual. They come from the party of Mark Foley and Larry Craig. They are simply disguised because they hate themselves, and so does every other member of their cabal.

But yeah, they are quite squirrelly; what fools would follow them?

[mikeSchmuckabee]

25. I find it extremely prejudicial that

you characterize these degenerates as heterosexual. They come from the party of Mark Foley and Larry Craig. They are simply disguised because they hate themselves, and so does every other member of their cabal.

But yeah, they are quite squirrelly; what fools would follow them?

[mdmc]

27. She is the next Raygun

all easy answers..

[David Zephyr]

35. Yes, she is.

And this is the great dilemma that Sarah is causing them. In 2012, she's going to call them on all their faux male bluffing, and thereby strike a great contrast for all Republican primary voters to see who wears the pants in that club. Sarah will have the time of her life in the GOP primaries whipping those "men".

[mdmc]

28. She is the next Raygun

all easy answers..

[DU GrovelBot]

32. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our fourth quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!

[Initech]

34. You know these guys talk shit but at the end of the day...

One well timed right hook would knock 'em out cold.

:rofl:

[Fuzz]

38. So true. I describe myself as a deranged bearded lumberjack, liberal as they come. Don't look like

it. But was in Provincetown during bear week. Didn't know it when I went, but holy crap was I a hit. Then I saw the signs for bear week. My wife and I laughed and laughed. I hadn't felt so sexy in years.

But then I argue with politics with folks online and I'm called 'fag' and 'limp-wristed' all the damn time. It's so strange. People certainly have weird definitions of sexuality.

[David Zephyr]

39. Real men are Democrats. Republican guys are scaredy cats. They are afraid of everything it seems.

Republican men are so afraid of everything: they seem to always be afraid of all people of color, of Jews, of GLBT people, of Muslims, of foreigners, of immigrants. Not very manly of them, huh?

Your tale of you adventure to P-Town is a hoot and your wife sounds like a great gal and your story is a hoot. Nice meeting you here.

[InvisibleTouch]

44. "Real men are Democrats." Best quote of the day!

It should be a bumper sticker. :)

It takes a lot more strength and self-assurance and simply being comfortable with oneself, to accept others and care for the planet, to see beyond one's own little life to the larger picture, and not be constrained by the rigid guidelines of fear and narrow-minded tradition. Those who feel weak and insecure, will strike out at others to put them down and artificially inflate their ego. Those who feel genuinely self-confident, have no need to do that.

[David Zephyr]

49. I like it. It goes right to their falsely perceived strength: that they are manly when they're wimps

You write: "It takes a lot more strength and self-assurance and simply being comfortable with oneself, to accept others and care for the planet, to see beyond one's own little life to the larger picture, and not be constrained by the rigid guidelines of fear and narrow-minded tradition. Those who feel weak and insecure, will strike out at others to put them down and artificially inflate their ego. Those who feel genuinely self-confident, have no need to do that."

So true. And that's why I believe that real men are Democrats.

[EFerrari]

40. Most of it is hype but most people don't know that.

Her father hunted on her tag and someone else field dressed that poor caribou. But, Vanna White has nothing on Palin, that's for sure.

[kentuck]

41. k & R

Very interesting synopsis, DZ... And one I think may have a lot of validity. :-)

[David Zephyr]

51. Hey, Kentuck.

You are still one of my all time favorite posters here at the DU, Kentuck. :hi:

[kentuck]

54. I never miss a DZ post!

:-)

[Orsino]

42. They only talk tough to flatter and frighten us.

They represent the pampered and privileged, and did not take office to work.

[Skidmore]

43. OT, but this woman wants to know why she is treated

as shallow and using sexist stereotypes? Then again perhaps it's not OT. Palin is the Hustler version of the manly woman. She's wiggly and jiggly and powdered and painted and flirtatious and plays with "boys toys." As a woman, I am offended by her. She seeks and uses political power but would deny that power and rights to other women if her beliefs were put into practice. She deeply offends me. The male Rs who support her are looking for a real life version of a magazine centerfold. The women who support her are beyond any analysis. I just don't get them at all.

[David Zephyr]

53. Skidmore, you said it all.

That entire exaggerated gender thing with Republicans is "beyond any analysis". And like you, I don't get them at all, either.

Republicans are obsessed with their gender stereotypes and they are all, as you say, "offensive".

Everything you wrote about Palin is spot on.

I failed to mention in my OP that even the infatuation the GOP faithful had with that phony "Joe The Plumber" shows how much their men seem to idolize rough, tough men, but then all of their leadership are wimpy Wall Street, bronzer wearing, fancypants guys.

It's a real pathology and I wanted to take a righteous stab at that pathology and turn it back on its head. Their men are snivelling cowardly weaklings who think that just because they are not homosexual, that this somehow alone makes them manly. And their women are cardboard cutouts of an oppressed sterotype that I feel is hurtful to women and girls.

You characterized their warped pathology perfectly: "Palin is the Hustler version of the manly woman. She's wiggly and jiggly and powdered and painted and flirtatious and plays with "boys toys." As a woman, I am offended by her. She seeks and uses political power but would deny that power and rights to other women if her beliefs were put into practice. She deeply offends me. The male Rs who support her are looking for a real life version of a magazine centerfold. The women who support her are beyond any analysis. I just don't get them at all."

[JitterbugPerfume]

45. I thought GeorgeW protested WAY to much!

and in spite of his exaggerated "manliness" there was an underlying flabbiness. Real men don't have to prove it , be they gay or straight.

Republican men are a dying breed in their present incarnation , and very unappealing to straight women.

You forgot that pu##y Eric Cantor HE is the worst!

Hi David!:loveya:

[David Zephyr]

55. JitterbugPerfume! I did forget Eric Cantor and he's one of their rising stars.

And Happy Thanksgiving to ya, JitterbugPerfume! :loveya:

[DainBramaged]

52. Here ya go