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TOUGH_BEING_TOUGH

                                             December 10, 2006

I wonder if what's going on doesn't have
a lot to do with dueling machismo.

Whatever they say about it, the Right must
feel awfully nervous about talking the talk
all the time when so many of them don't
have much of a walk to back it up.

They've got a draft-dodger of a president
that's happily sent soldiers off to die in
multiple wars.

They had to run him for re-election against
a man with a genuine record as a war hero --
which put them in the position launching a
smear campaign against the background of an
actual veteran.

And all of these masters of the conservative
sneer, from Limbaugh on down -- precious few
of them have seen anything like real action.

They love to talk tough, as long as they don't
need to get up out of their chairs...

And then you get to someone like Robert Fisk,
who doesn't talk tough, he really is tough.
He gets dangerously close to looking like
an authentic action hero -- and he doesn't
agree with their opinion of war.

   He's tough enough to stand
   up against the tough guys.

He sends them frantic with
spin control... perhaps out
of a kind of envy?
                                                     SMEAR_THE_MESSENGER
None of them have
gotten into fist fights
with an Afghan mob.         How dare he not
                            have the grace
                            to brag about it.


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