Is Ryan Lizza insulting Dems in general, or is he trying to make Rahm look macho?

[madfloridian]

First there was the article in the GQ about Kiss the Ring. Hard to tell just how many Lizza insulted in that article...or built up. I mainly posted it to point out Carville's stuff about Dean.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/838

The above post was mostly about Rahm being the kingmaker now for the party, and that Carville claims to be his friend and ally. Here is the GQ article by Lizza.

http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5251&pageNum=1

Now I read the NYT article about the Macho male Dems, and I guess my political radar is screwed up again....just who is Ryan Lizza insulting...

Is this another attempt like the article from GQ to make Rahm look tough? Is it just geared to make all Democrats look bad. I notice there is no honeymooon with the press at all. Not even one day. I hear Candy Crowley proclaimed this the "do nothing" congress the other day. :think:

I admit, some of this smart ass stuff is lost on me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/weekinreview/07lizza.html

"“As much as the policy positions is the background and character of these Democrats,” says John Lapp, the former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who helped recruit this new breed of candidate. “So we went to C.I.A. agents, F.B.I. agents, N.F.L. quarterbacks, sheriffs, Iraq war vets. These are red-blooded Americans who are tough.”

Mr. Lapp even coined a term to describe these manly — and they are all men — pols: “the Macho Dems.”

The return of Democratic manliness was no accident; it was a carefully planned strategy. But now that the Macho Dems are walking the halls of Congress, it remains to be seen whether they will create as many problems for Democrats as they solved. After all, these new Democrats have heterodox political views that could complicate Democratic caucus politics, and their success may raise uncomfortable questions for those Democrats who don’t pass the new macho test.

The architects of this strategy, Representative Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Lapp’s boss, as well as Senator Charles Schumer, are well-known political pit bulls. Mr. Emanuel won his Congressional seat by navigating the ward politics of Chicago’s old-fashioned political machine."

And John Lapp is mentioned in both articles..big role he played in the picking of candidates.

I guess I don't get snark very well, if that is what this is.

But I did hear what Howard Dean said in his message to the grassroots on January 4 via Politics TV.

Video:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/899

"Nine out of the 35 races that were selected by the DCCC were winners...the rest of them were all folks who started on their own with enormous grassroots organizations."

Most started out on their own with grassroots groups and DCCC and DNC helped fund some eventually.

That is truly amazing, really. The majority ran because they were inspired and wanted to change the country.

[blm]

1. Funny how all these 'macho' Dems stayed silent from 2000-2005, and couldn't

be found attacking Bush in any significant way, while leaving all the work of that period to lesser known Dem names.

[MADem]

2. Well, some of the macho Dems might not have been Dems at the time

Guys like Tester for example...Jim Webb, on the Senate side, is clearly a "macho Dem" but he used to be a registered Republican. I think many of them reached their bullshit tolerance level right before the 04 elections, and it peaked right after it.

During the earllier years, it was the established faces, not the new bunch, who were the only ones who could get any airtime in a GOP controlled environment...the Russerts and the Tweeties were going after those GOP names for their shows, and they'd allow an "amusing" Dem on (someone guaranteed to either get excited and holler or a whipping boy) for so-called balance. The macho Dems were all new folks....no one had even heard of them at the time.

[madfloridian]

4. Another interesting take on this...another snarky blog. Heh Heh

http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/2007/01/what_i_learned_.html

"1. Manly Men win elections.
a. Swearing and missing body parts are characteristics of a Manly Man.

2. The 2006 elections results were "milestones" because they marked the return of Manly Men to the Democratic Party.

3. Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emmuel make Lizza's nipples hard and they know how to find Manly Men.

4. Howard Dean, Tammy Duckworth and Paul Hackett don't exist.

5. Obama and Hillary are NOT Manly Men

6. If a party runs Manly Men, there is a danger that women will not vote for them because girls like babies and pearls and Manly Men like football, muscles and wars.

7. The opinions of two populist freshman Senators are worth those of one unelected, establishment, DLC strategist. (James Carville).

8. Manly Men are the salvation and ruination of the party's hopes in 2008.

You can get a much more cohesive look at the real issue of the 2006 "Fightin' Dems" here. For example: (50-State emphasis mine)"

[madfloridian]

3. From the GQ article: a group within the DCCC I never heard of

"Since Rahm coordinates everything with his House campaigns, he can’t also then spend tens of millions of dollars for ads and mail to help them. That has to be done by a staff¬ of operatives who work for a hermetically sealed committee within a committee, called the IE because it makes independent expenditures on behalf of the DCCC’s top House candidates. In short, Rahm can talk to the candidates as much he wants, but the amount of money he can give them is limited, while the IE can never talk to the candidates but can spend as much money as it wants on ads and mail and anything else that might help them win.

The IE is run by a 35-year-old Rahm loyalist named John Lapp. The bizarre setup means that Rahm, Washington’s most famous control freak, has spent the past two years raising $122 million, only to fork over $67 million of it to Lapp. Even worse, Rahm, not known for keeping his opinions to himself, is barred by law from telling Lapp how to spend the money.

The arrangement “drove Rahm nuts,” Lapp says. “Rahm always used to taunt me: ‘All on your shoulders now. How does it feel to have all of the money, twice what the IE was last cycle, only to lose?’ ”

http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5251&pageNum=3

How strange the way money is allocated. And how strange the way Lizza seems to go back and forth sort of admiring, then bashing.

I guess I don't follow it all.

[Guaranteed]

5. Rahm Emanuel, a real tough guy....

So, I do have to ask- did he vote for or against the IWR?

[snowbear]

6. I wouldn't call Rahm "macho"... but he's intelligent, articulate, and most of all...

..when dealing with r-THUGS, he's very sly.. very shrewd.. and despite what many DU'ers think, very effective.

I don't dislike him at all. He's doing what he needs to do.

But "macho"? Not so much.

[madfloridian]

7. I have no gripes as long as they mind the attacks on the grassroots.

I guess it is better now, though.

Dean: "Rahm and I have been the best of friends since the election”

He said with a little wink.

So much underlying winking and snarking and so much obvious use of TV spots to deny progressives any credit.

Yes, he is effective, but so are we, the people on the ground, and is the strategy the DNC is employing.

I think we ought not to be afraid to share credit.

:hi:

[snowbear]

8. Yup. We are effective.. Dean is effective... Rahm is effective... and.....

Mad Floridian, as always... is VERY, VERY effective!

[madfloridian]

10. Aww....I'm flattered.

:blush:

[AX10]

9. First of all, Lizza is a "New Republic/DLC" stooge.

Second of all, Rahm is not "macho" of "tough", he's a DLC establishment Democrat.
Now, Jon Tester and Jim Webb, they would be the "macho" and "tough" Democrats. But wait, they aren't DLC tools, so naturally, Lizza doesn't mention them.

[JI7]

11. do they mention he is a ballet dancer

or would that not fit into their story ?

all these macho, alpha, balls , type crap makes me puke.