WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH

Girly-men, you say? Sure we are, we all are whatever our gender, our race, our religion, our sexual preference or our position in life.

Girly-men will keep us much safer than the Squirrelly-men who have killed thousands in this country because they were on vacation and paid no attention to the terrorist threats.

These Squirrelly-men recently held a Convention commemorating the horrible damage they allowed on 9/11. It stands as a symbol of their single minded madness and their danger to the entire world.

These Squirrelly-men in the last four years have also killed thousands in a preemptive war in Iraq and every day more Iraqi and Americans are dying.

These Squirrelly-men have incited the Islamic/Arab world to more terrorism and inflamed more women and men to become terrorists.

These Squirrelly-men are even now licking their lips at the prospect of invading Iran and Syria and -- well their war lust is limitless.

These Squirrelly-men have despoiled our land and crapped up our environment. To see a picture of one of them baring his soul, check out the cover of Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order by Mark Crispin Miller in your bookstore or on amazon.com

So, we are Girly-men. We are committed. We are not only intelligent, we are smart. We can learn from our mistakes and be creative in the days ahead and what's more, we must! Our lives depend on it.

Girly-men are sensitive where that is needed; strong when that is needed and valorous even in the most difficult of times.

We can no longer just return fire, nor should we keep trying to play catch-up for dirty deeds. Rather, we must use our brains to confound an enemy who would destroy our lives, our country and our world.

Here's a look back for examples of what needs changing and fertile fields for innovation, for a sea change in tactics. Girly-men will take the Bushie jibes as compliments and hurl them right back with a twist or a slash at the jugular. We must Swift boat them at every venue.

"It's the presentation, stupid." Both candidates come from privileged families and both are millionaires, read RICH BLUE BLOOD. Kerry appears to flaunt it; Bush hides it from the voters.

As important as presentation is repetition. Their whole convention was used to continue to repeat lies and allegations and to introduce new talking points. All Republicans everywhere are now on the same page fighting their way to every microphone and camera to trash Kerry.

In addition to presentation and repetition are the short, punchy sentences used so effectively by Bush. It is the language most of us were introduced to when we first learned to read and it still resonates with many of us. It's the cadence used by the hypnotist because it deadens conscious thought:

We laugh at Bush's speech and how his campaign has to translate "what he really meant," but Kerry surrogates have had to do the same thing. Kerry is smart and educated and experienced but he has not "talked the talk" to the people who might vote for him -- if they could understand him.

Mr. Nice Guy and his surrogates (that's all of us Girly-men) desperately needed to take off the gloves and lead the Democrats and Independents with clarity, truth and repetition on a liturgy of Bush's last three years.

Bush's lies, his flip flops, his desecration of America's reputation. This is not being nasty, it's being competitive. He didn't lead, he impeded. He impeded the investigations; he impeded security plans put forth to Congress.

What is this idiocy that says it is "not nice or good politics" to criticize Bush? It is nuts not to lay his actions on him the way he and his campaign has done to Kerry. As for flip flops, Bush is king: http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=42263

Purple Heart band aids were passed out at the Republican Convention to slime Kerry. This should not be greeted by whining and protests, rather the Democrats must bring the fight to Bush. No more dancing backwards to be derided as "girly men." If all of us accept that appellation as something to be proud of, it takes the intended sting out of it.

Democrats must charge ahead with a one two punch instead of just reacting to Bush's dirty tricks. Think about it. Four more years of Ashcroft!!!

The conventions are being held up as examples of how each candidate would handle terrorism. Kerry took the nice guy, positive approach and the Bushies are making him out to be a wimp that will finish last.

Gloriously, Kerry returned fire with a vengeance following Bush's GOP Convention speech. Not all nice guys finish last. When the going's tough, the tough get going. Think about how great it will be when Bush et al. are defeated by Girly-men.

twanda@sover.net

2004-036

Copyright 2004 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@sover.net.