Man Up

by digby

I see that there is a little argument going on in the comments of this post over at Election Central as to whether John Edwards was asking for the Republicans and the Queenbee to go after him when he spent $400 on a haircut. Some people believe that he is a hypocrite because his campaign is based on the “two Americas” theme and his spending so much money makes him look bad.

I don’t know if that’s the case, but I do know that’s not what the Republicans and the Queen Bee are getting at. It’s not about how much the haircut cost — it’s about the fact that he gets his hair cut by a fancy “hairdresser” instead of a butch barber like a real man would. They are basically calling him a “faggot” just like Coulter just as Coulter did.

They are feminizing him, the same way they feminized Gore with his earth tones and Kerry with his “flip-flopping” you-know-what.They tried to do it with Clinton but couldn’t really get at him very well because he was a womanizer — so they said his wife was a dyke instead.

The Republicans start these memes and pass them around to their little insider pals because they know it amuses the sophomoric punditocrisy during homeroom. But it is also a way for them to get the media to subtly identify with the manly virtues they covet or admire, thus furthering the GOP goal of alienating the legions of insecure white males (and the women who love them) in this country from the Democratic party. They’ve been doing it for years, ever since the 60’s when Ronnie was talking about how you couldn’t tell the girls from the boys anymore.

Don’t confuse this with money. These people are all millionaires. This is about social hierarchy and high school archetypes being used to sell Republicans — and the dupes or agents in the press who help them. If they haven’t signed on to GOP politics directly, the Queen and all her followers in the media at least signed on to the idea that if they treat the Dems like a bunch of feminized losers, tripping them in the halls, knocking over their lunch trays and putting “kick me” signs on their backs, the awesome BMOC’s will finally invite them to the party. Why do you think they kissed that macho jerk Don Imus’s butt all those years?

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