Manly, Yes--But Republicans Like It Too

 
 Over at (coff, coff) Reason Online, Cathy Young discusses the curious "Cult of Manliness," currently sweeping the nation like anthrax did a few years ago: very slowly and very ineffectively. Of particular interest is the role conservatives ascribe to multiple-heart-attack-and- draft-deferment -survivor Rugged Dick Cheney:

In 2003 The American Enterprise published a somewhat surreal roundtable discussion of masculinity by six conservative women. In the very second paragraph, one Erica Walter, an "at-home mom and Catholic writer," claimed that "manliness has experienced a renaissance" partly because "the Bush/Cheney administration has set the tone for the political culture."

Other panelists gushed over Bush's "virility," with genuflections toward the "Mission Accomplished" landing on the deck of the USS Lincoln. Said Walter, "Testosterone and camaraderie--many people responded to it."

Whole Reason story here .--Nick Gillespie