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Civil Intercourse

Via Counterspin Central and Atrios I read that gubernatorial candidate Georgy Russell claims she was roughed up at a couple of Schwarzennegger rallies.

I have no idea if it is true, but I can say that here in Santa Monica yesterday afternoon about 15 young white males with signs were standing outside Arnold’s headquarters on 4th avenue shouting down some code pink protesters across the street in very crude and intimidating terms.

One man walking across the street shouted, “your guy is going down!” to which the honorable and dignified “Schwarzennegger Studs” replied, “he’s not going down on you, you fucking faggot!” followed by more cries of “faggot, pussy … etc.” Then they literally goosestepped down the sidewalk. I’m not joking. I saw it.

So I’m not surprised that Arnold’s followers would rough up a woman at a campaign rally. That’s how brownshirt thugs operate.

Susan Faludi has an interesting take on the subject in this piece for the LA Times this past week-end:

According to the article, after Schwarzenegger had bedded the woman, he picked up a phone and, claiming he was dialing his lawyer to reschedule an appointment, asked her to take the receiver. It turned out the number he dialed was her husband’s, and while she held the phone, Schwarzenegger yelled into it these words, cleaned up by The Times’ censors: “I just [made love to] her! I just [made love to] her!” As Tina Turner would say, what’s love got to do with it?

A Schwarzenegger spokesman told The Times that the episode with Peters and his wife was just a case of “locker room humor.” Which actually explains a good deal of Schwarzenegger’s appeal to male voters. He comes out of the testosterone-ruled world of weight rooms and action movies, where women are the designated observers and adorners, and where men find their place in the wolf pack through a well-established ordeal of hazing and humiliation.

The men who don’t make it to the top in that world still have the compensation of identifying with the one man who does, as long as they don’t identify with any of the women, as long as they don’t “say nothing.” They still belong to the pack, by virtue of being male.

No matter how much sand gets kicked in their face, they still can fantasize that one day they, too, like Charles Atlas, will do enough leg lifts to rise in the ranks. At a time of deep economic and international insecurity, the easy power of the bully boy is a siren call to the American male populace, as evidenced by President Bush’s continuing allure to the very men whose interests are least served by his domestic and foreign policies. The locker room game works as long as only men get to play, and only as long as they agree to play by certain rules. One rule is that sensuality is verboten, but aggressive jocularity is not. Humiliating women in a “playful” way can signal a powerful rejection of “the feminine” and a powerful reinforcement of male bonding.

It is a very peculiar sort of sexual/cultural/political theatre we seem to be playing out in this country these last few years. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the vast fundamental changes that have happened as women and gays have begun to become professional and social equals.

The resulting confusion and obsession with stupidity, coarseness and vulgarity on the part of sexually repressed white males (and the women who love them) in the political realm is the best explanation as to why people like Arnold and George W. Bush could become iconic masculine figures.

They are not, after all, real heroes. They pretend to be heroes — one being a rich playboy who never had to work hard a day in his life and the other a vain fame seeker who spent his entire career wearing make-up and posing naked in front of a camera.

In fact, you could say that these two great manly heroes of the right are not manly at all. Bush, who refused his opportunities to truly compete in any traditionally masculine spheres, whether in sports, business or the military, has actually led the life of a wealthy socialite. Arnold, whose body has been the source of his fame and fortune, is little more than a beauty queen turned cheesecake actress.

But that doesn’t phase the starry-eyed droolers of the right whose faith based philosophy permeates every aspect of their lives:

Republicans have seldom shied from an embrace of manliness. The New York Times recently ran a report on the new Bush re-election headquarters. It explained that the offices display two large photos: one of President Bush “sweating and looking rugged in a T-shirt and cowboy hat”; another of Ronald Reagan “also looking rugged in a cowboy hat.” And all this was before Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to run for governor of California. Yup, that’s the Republican Party.

Of course, George W. Bush is famous for his “compassionate conservatism.” He is capable of great tenderness of expression, much of it related, no doubt, to his triumph over alcohol and his religious awakening. But Bush as hombre has been the dominant theme of his post-September 11 presidency.

Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, likes to tell a story about Mr. Bush out in Iowa, early in the 2000 presidential campaign. A group of Hell’s Angels rode into town, and Gov. Bush simply waded into them, hugging them, bonding with them, relishing them. Not every American politician could manage this, without affectation. Mr. Bush was also, in that campaign, known to have a much better time with the rough ‘n’ ready cameramen in the back of the plane than with the (much more effete) reporters who also accompanied him.

Was this written by Peggy Noonan? How about Kathryn Lopez? Kate O’Beirne of “Clinton couldn’t credibly wear jogging shorts” fame?

Nope. This was written by none other than Jay Nordlinger on the Wall Street Journal’s web site.

Can you hear the desperation in his words? The neediness? The deep and abiding desire to be part of that wolf pack? Indeed, it seems to be a desire so deep, and yet one so impossible for these men and women to achieve in any authentic way, that they have embraced a faux, fun house mirror version of masculinity so imbued with symbolism and phony iconography that it has inverted upon itself and become a parody of the manliness for which they yearn.

As a matter of fact, this Republican obsession with manliness is remarkably similar to the good humored, self referential, hyper-masculinity of the gay scene. A scene in which “cowboys” often “relish” wading into crowds of “bikers” and where body builders are the epitome of masculine pulcritude.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that….

But, I think the least these goosestepping adolescents and breathless columnists on the right could do is stop pretending to be manly and brave when they are obviously refusing to face up to some very complicated feelings about their place in the world. And, I’d really appreciate it if they’d spare us the romance novel drivel about their masculine icons at least until either of them do one seriously manly thing in their lives that doesn’t include cosmetics, daddy’s money or sophomoric frat boy sexual behavior.

(Thanks to Dwight Meredith for the Nordlinger tip.)

Foolish Hobgoblin

Then

” [I] did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.”

[…]

“This matter is between me, the two people I love most – my wife and our daughter – and our God,” Clinton said.

[…]

“Wasn’t that pathetic? I tell you, what a jerk,” Hatch was overheard saying Monday night to his entourage as he left a television studio in Utah where he had given a number of interviews.

Now

“I cannot remember what was happening 20 years ago, 15 years ago. But some of the things sounds like me, which I was the first one to come out and say, you know, some of the things could have happened, I want to apologize,” Schwarzenegger said.

“We have to look at people who they are today, not what they may have done wrong in the past,” Hatch told the National Press Club Friday. “There isn’t a person in this room or anywhere else in the world who is perfect, who has lived perfectly.”

[…]

In answer to a question posed by reporters Friday, Hatch noted that Schwarzenegger has said most of the groping allegations detailed between 1975 and 2000 in a Thursday Los Angeles Times story are not true “but he’s apologized for acting improperly at times in the past.”

Why do you suppose it is that Republicans have such a hard time finding success as intellectuals?

Republicans Are Never Partisans

Rep. Porter Goss said Thursday that the uproar over allegations that White House officials purposely identified a covert CIA agent appears largely political and doesn’t yet merit an investigation by the House Select Committee on Intelligence, which he chairs.

“I would say there’s a much larger dose of partisan politics going on right now than there is worry about national security,” said Goss, R-Sanibel. “But I would never take lightly a serious allegation backed up by evidence that there was a willful — and I emphasize willful, inadvertent is something else — willful disclosure, and I haven’t seen any evidence.”

Goss said he would act if he did have evidence of that sort.

“Somebody sends me a blue dress and some DNA, I’ll have an investigation,” Goss said.

[…]

Goss said he has no evidence that the controversy is more than a product of “wild and unsubstantiated allegations, which are being obviously piled on by partisan politics during an election year.”

Or, maybe he could ask his good friend Notra Trulock, freeper, liar and moron extraordinaire, to look into it for him. Notra was well known as a complete crank and total nutjob by the CIA, but ole’ Porter was so concerned that Clinton was some sort of Manchurian Candidate by way of Little Rock, that he couldn’t wait to get the investigation rolling. Goss and his pal Chris Cox investigated for months and the result was the single most outrageous intelligence committee report ever submitted. It was entirely debunked both before and after its release.

But, it wasn’t partisan in any way. No it certainly wasn’t.

All of this reminds me — I wonder whatever happened to Ms. Katherine Leung, GOP fundraiser and FBI plaything?

Who’s The Good Guy?

Atrios throws down the gauntlet:

… there’s also one more person who could end this – the senior administration official who pointed his finger at two White House officials in the WaPo article 8 days ago.

Oh yes, indeed. Let the games begin.

Many assume that it’s Tenet for a variety of reasons, many of which are very compelling.

But, I think it’s somebody else. Somebody who has voiced concerns in the past about the political operation of the White House. Somebody who expressed alarm in Ron Suskind’s seminal Esquire article that Karl Rove would have unfettered power with George W. Bush after the resignation of Karen Hughes:

“I’ll need designees, people trusted by the president that I can elevate for various needs to balance against Karl. . . . They are going to have to really step up, but it won’t be easy. Karl is a formidable adversary.”

That, of course, was Andy Card.

Someone else in the same article went on to say:

“But many of us feel it’s our duty—our obligation as Americans—to get the word out that, certainly in domestic policy, there has been almost no meaningful consideration of any real issues. It’s just kids on Big Wheels who talk politics and know nothing. It’s depressing. Domestic Policy Council meetings are a farce. This leaves shoot-from-the-hip political calculations—mostly from Karl’s shop—to triumph by default. No one balances Karl. Forget it. That was Andy’s cry for help.”

In fact, if you go back and read the entire article, you find that there were a number of White House officials who said things like:

“It’s an amazing moment. Karl just went from prime minister to king. Amazing . . . and a little scary. Now no one will speak candidly about him or take him on or contradict him. Pure power, no real accountability. It’s just ‘listen to Karl and everything will work out.’ . . . That may go for the president, too.”

In his amazing article Susskind said:

They [Rove’s friends] heard that I was writing about Karl Rove, seeking to contextualize his role as a senior adviser in the Bush White House, and they began calling, some anonymously, some not, saying that they wanted to help and leaving phone numbers. The calls from members of the White House staff were solemn, serious. Their concern was not only about politics, they said, not simply about Karl pulling the president further to the right. It went deeper; it was about this administration’s ability to focus on the substance of governing—issues like the economy and social security and education and health care—as opposed to its clear political acumen, its ability to win and enhance power. And so it seemed that each time I made an inquiry about Karl Rove, I received in return a top-to-bottom critique of the White House’s basic functions, so profound is Rove’s influence.

So, who knows? But, it does seem entirely possible that rather than this being a purely political turf war between the Neocons and the CIA (as is being promoted with the idea that Tenet was the one who blew the whistle on the Plame leak operation) that the “Senior Administration Official” does come from the White House and is one of those who have been sitting on their disgust at the total domination of politics over governance.

Leader of the Brats

Matt Yglesias says that voters shouldn’t let Arnold’s alleged piggish behavior affect their votes (not that he would vote for him):

Bill Clinton taught us that a person can have a strong record on women’s issues while treating women quite poorly in his personal life, just as LBJ showed us that a racist can end Jim Crow, while Truman and Nixon proved that anti-semites can be good friends of Israel. George W. Bush proves that a nice guy can screw the country up. This isn’t to condone Schwarzennegger’s misogyny (or anyone else’s racism or anti-semitism), simply to suggest that it’s not all that relevant to whether or not he should be governor.

Perhaps. But, if “character” is not relevant as to whether one should vote for Schwarzennegger, what is? He has no public record on which to base an assessment. The man is running on his movie star image and,

frankly, his association with the Kennedys. If he had a known record of strong support for women’s rights as Clinton did, or had demonstrated a shrewd knowledge of the winds of political change as Johnson did, or had years of foreign policy experience as Nixon had, perhaps his alleged character flaws could be put into the perspective of an entire career and would not loom as large when making a decision in the voting booth.

But, Arnold has no record of anything but being a very ambitious and pampered movie star.

One thing people may not realize about Arnold is that he is peculiarly unqualified for office even by Hollywood standards. He does not produce or direct films, he doesn’t run his own production company and he never risks his own money. Even Sandra Bullock and Demi Moore are more involved in the creative direction of their careers and have developed and produced their own vehicles.

Arnold is a hired gun. He comes on to a set without any responsibility for the actual nuts and bolts of raising money, adhering to the budget, maintaining the creative flow while massaging egos under strict time constraints and dealing with impossible logistics. In other words, he has been entirely removed from the day to day business and responsibility of the movie business. He shows up for work, sits in his trailer until he’s called, does his bit and goes home. When the film is finished he goes on a publicity tour to promote it. That’s it. It is not surprising that he would find plenty of time to be “playful” on the “rowdy” set. He isn’t involved in most of the work that goes on all around him. Indeed, he probably isn’t even aware of it.

There aren’t a lot of big stars like this anymore. Most of them , like Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks, are producers at the least and the smart ones like Eastwood and Redford have run their careers like a business with themselves at the producing helm most of the time and often behind the camera as well. They have experience running a production, hustling for money, dealing with executives on a business level, handling other stars’ egos etc. They have shown throughout their careers that they are, within their field … leaders.

Arnold is not one of those guys. He has come a long way from his beginnings as a body builder and created a niche for himself in high priced action films that make lots of money (particularly overseas.) But, he has not shown any kind of leadership in his own life beyond touting physical fitness and making a lot of easy money.

So, how does a person evaluate someone whose life and career show no obvious qualifications for the office he is seeking? Isn’t he, in fact, running solely on the idea that his character — as personified in his movie roles — is what qualifies him for office? Isn’t he presenting himself as a real life Action Hero?

In truth, his real life (at least for the last 20 years) has been one of incredibly spoiled and princely pampering, to the point that he has absolutely no clue about what is acceptable behavior because he’s been indulged beyond any normal everyday person’s ability to even imagine. This is why he says things like, “No one ever came to me in my life and said to me that I did anything, that said ‘I don’t want you to do that, you went over the line Arnold.'”

I imagine that this is quite true. Nobody tells Arnold Schwarzenegger, “I don’t want you to do that.” In his world, he is completely free to act with impunity because in his world he is the pasha, the prince, the coddled “product” who is beyond the realm of normal human behavior. His power is the power of a cossetted and overindulged brat.

These accusations may or may not be true. But, they certainly do fit the profile of this man who has never done anything but seek fame and power for their own sakes. If there were anything in his life that mitigated these alleged character flaws — intellectual development, a record of accomplishment, demonstrated leadership or even a campaign that featured a detailed and serious program and a well articulated vision — perhaps it wouldn’t be wise to take easily made and difficult to prove accusations in the last days of a campaign as a deciding factor.

But with Arnold, it’s pretty much all we’ve got to go on.

Sore Losermen

They’ve already looked for the weapons and couldn’t find ‘em. They sent in more people and looked again. Now they want 600 million dollars to look one more time.

They just want to keep looking until it comes out the way they want it to!

They’re trying to divine the location of the weapons of mass destruction!

Racist Meme

Via CNNSI:

“I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well,” Limbaugh said on Sunday NFL Countdown. “There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team,” he said.

[…]

Limbaugh on Wednesday reiterated that he doesn’t think McNabb is a bad player, just that he isn’t as good as some media members think he is. “This is such a mountain out of a molehill,” he said. “There’s no racism here, there’s no racist intent whatsoever.”

This is so typical of cowardly bigots. They act as if they are completely clueless that what they are saying is racist. “Who me? I’d never do that.”

Limbaugh was basically saying that the NFL is practicing affirmative action and giving this guy McNabb a job he doesn’t deserve because he’s black. This is because the media are politically correct and demand it.

Can there be anything more absurd than this? This is professional athletics, not some junior college in Northern California. The National Football League, for gawd’s sake. Is there no corner of society in which Rush can allow that African-Americans may be making it on their own merit?

This really gets to the essence of modern racist rhetoric. The belief has been subtly reframed from an overt belief that racial minorities are inferior and must be kept in their place to a subliminal meme that they are inferior so they must be getting an unfair advantage when they are treated equally with whites.

To say that this applies in professional sports, one of the most meritocratic institutions in our society (and one which nonetheless still has vestiges of racist barriers to full participation) is a perfect example of how the modern racist mind works.

A Traitor’s Best Friend

Via Atrios:

Robert Novak is completely immoral and intellectually bankrupt. I had heard him make a statement on CNN regarding the issue but never actually read his column about his relationship with convicted spy Robert Hanssen

His apparent confusion as to the integrity of the man whom he reluctantly revealed as a souce after he had pled guilty to spying and blowing the covers of dozens of CIA assets (resulting in many deaths) is downright astounding.

According to Novak, (whom it seems is every treasonous Republican’s favorite reporter) the fact that Hanssen had spied for more than 30 years, had collected more than a million dollars in “fees” from the KGB and had been personally responsible for many deaths and compromises of national security, was not enough to fully convince him

that he wasn’t acting out of patriotism when he leaked to Novak that Janet Reno was endangering spies in China.

Unanswerable questions are pondered. During the lengthy interim when he was not betraying his country, could Hanssen have felt some genuine concern about the security of U.S. assets in China if they fell into the hands of the attorney general? Could he have experienced a sudden change of heart after disclosing the identity of U.S. assets in Russia?

Or, was he merely using me to undermine Reno — and his boss, FBI Director Louis Freeh, as well? …

Robert Hanssen is an enigma and will remain so at least until he reveals himself. The speculation that he is purely the embodiment of evil tends to be undermined by the validity of his report about Ray Wickman. He really may have been living a double-life, one as a patriotic, religious American and the other as spy of the century. That sounds fanciful, but any other explanation fails.

No, there actually is another explanation. The explanation is that Robert Hanssen, traitor and scumbag, was a sexually repressed, greedy, mentally unbalanced right wing Republican who would sell out his fellows, his family and his country for money and ego gratification. Anyone who believes that this is not the embodiment of evil has no business being on the receiving end of ANY sensitive information.

It is monumentally insulting that Novak would even ponder the possibility that a man like Hanssen remained a good patriotic American when he accused Janet Reno of being a traitor. It’s simply unbelievable.

Establishment Washington needs to start taking a good hard look at Novak’s work over the last 40 years. It seems he has often been a willing tool of those who like to commit treason. Perhaps the “pattern” required to establish a journalist’s culpability under the law is more obvious than we think.

Nasty Boys

So, Limbaugh is under investigation for a serious narcotics addiction and Arnold is being accused of some seriously creepy sexual harrassment.

I’m not a big fan of tabloid journalism and I don’t have any idea if this stuff is credible. It’s awfully easy to make accusations.

But even it it’s true, I’m sure this won’t hurt them with their base —- hypocrites.

Ya think?

As the White House hunkered down, it got the first taste of criticism from within Bush’s own party. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said that Bush “needs to get this behind him” by taking a more active role. “He has that main responsibility to see this through and see it through quickly, and that would include, if I was president, sitting down with my vice president and asking what he knows about it,” the outspoken Hagel said last night on CNBC’s “Capital Report.”

Just try to picture the scene in which Junior sits Cheney down and demands that he tell him what he knows about it.

I didn’t think so….