Friday, September 07, 2007

I LOVE TOUGH GUYS (AND I DO MEAN "GUYS")

Peggy Noonan today, writing about the Republican presidential field:

...[John McCain] has rediscovered the pleasures of the trail. The other day when a student was impertinent, he pleasantly responded, "Thanks for the question, you little jerk." It reminded me of the time Mayor Rudy Giuliani told an insistent radio caller who pressed for the legalization of ferrets that he probably cared about the issue because he was insane.

A brief digression about the Democrats in the same Noonan column:

...Mrs. Clinton figures out each day how to slow [Barack Obama] and stop him but not right now squish him like a bug, which would highlight a reputation for ruthlessness....

Got it? McCain calling a questioner a "jerk" is fun, impressive, maybe even sexy -- as is Giuliani attacking a ferret defender. But Hillary, even when she isn't being nasty, brings to mind the possibility that she might be nasty, which would be really nasty, because ... well, I guess, because she doesn't have a penis.

Yes, I know -- McCain was being lighthearted, and he got a laugh from his audience. But Giuliani's response to the ferret owner, was, well, borderline psychotic, something you'd think Noonan might know, given that she's a professional journalist and all -- read the transcript of the Giuliani rant, and I wish Oliver Willis would repost the audio. or, better yet, listen to the audio version.

And even if Noonan's praising these guys for barbed wit, what do you think she'd say if Hillary called someone a "little jerk," in jest, followed by "You're drafted," even if it got a laugh?

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