Liz Cheney has balls.
She told Republicans to man up.
First, a big apology to women. The notion that moral and physical courage would be associated with masculinity--testicles--is false and unfair. It is also commonplace casual, sloppy, misogynist thinking, and I perpetuate it with my headline. I do so because the idea is out there as cultural shorthand: Having "balls" mean acting with strength and integrity.
Republican thought leaders have been talking about lost masculinity in the country. Josh Hawley said America should restore "traditional masculine virtues." He said that men are wimps, hiding in their basements, watching pornography and playing video games. Ted Cruz, now bearded, says something similar. American liberal males "never grow balls," he said. Our military is "woke" and "emasculated." Tucker Carlson joins in, mocking weak, woke masculinity. Trump whipped off his mask on the White House balcony. Masks are for 'fraidy-cats and weaklings. Real Americans are fearless in the face of COVID. He called on the January 6 crowd to "be strong." Pence, he said, didn't lack understanding of his constitutional power; he lacked courage.
Virginia Democrat Elaine Luria laid the groundwork for Liz Cheney. Luria presented pictures of House members and senators leaving their chambers in the face of the Capitol riot, including these of Josh Hawley. She first him showed him exhorting the crowd. Mr. Macho.
Then she showed new video images of him running across a hallway and scurrying down an escalator to escape the crowd he had helped rile up. Mr. Phony.
Then, Liz Cheney concluded the hearing by praising the witnesses. They came forward at personal risk, she said. These included the election workers in Georgia and the White House staffers. They are women. Cheney said Cassidy Hutchinson knew that people would lean on her to keep quiet and that she would be personally attacked by Trump and his allies. She testified anyway, not like the "50-, 60-, and 70-year-old men who hide behind executive privilege.” Hide behind. She made the gendering of courage explicit: those women are “an inspiration to American women and to American girls.” American girls.
Liz Cheney is showing leadership in two arenas, both political and in the realm of female identity. She is doing it with body language. She is there, up front, head up, erect, direct. She is a woman challenging a dishonest and dangerous man in the political realm. This isn't a #MeToo after-the-fact complainer of past offenses. She is confronting wrongdoing in real time, demanding honesty and justice now. She is an old-school, second-wave Helen Reddy feminist, showing women how to be women, setting an example for American girls. Fifty years ago Helen Reddy sang:
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman.
The GOP may not be ready for Liz Cheney in 2024. I expect her to be in the political wilderness for a time, but history will be kind to her. She may reshape the GOP by exposing Trump and turning it away from authoritarian populism. She is also exposing the faux masculinity posturing of Trump's would-be successors. Balls aren't demonstrated by cooking bacon with a hot machine gun barrel, the way Cruz did, and then by being a sycophant to authoritarianism, again as Cruz is doing. It is by standing up for principles. She is an example and symbol for feminism. Feminism is bipartisan. It is also direct, empowered, strong, and invincible.
Cheney has balls.
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11 comments:
Mr. Sage's apology to women is misplaced, even obsolete. If indeed his usage conjures misogyny, whatever that is any more, it's not in the way he suggests.
After all, the nation's first four-star admiral, Rachel Levine, has balls as well. So does the almost sure thing for NCAA Female Athlete of the Year, Lia Thomas. A penis AND balls on those woman!
Never mind that Republican strongholds, and traditional families with conservative values such as God and country, particularly in the South, provide the bulk of American military recruits.
Per recent reports, military recruitment is way down, but what do we have honors Democratic values. Trans outreach is in full swing. Joint Chiefs Chair General Milley said he's studying white rage.
For those of in step with prevailing social and cultural trends, the danger is not faux masculinity but toxic masculinity, also known as traditional masculinity (and before that, as "masculinity").
Feminism is less bipartisan than it is bisexual, or even asexual. The pathologies which marred the "Greatest" Generation mar Liz Cheney too.
As a Liz Chaney Republican we are collecting all the kind comments from our Liberal friends to use when she gets the Republican nomination for President down the road and is running against a Democrat. Btw a great column !
If she wasn’t so conservative, I would vote for her for president. There is no doubt now for anyone who has watched the Jan 6th hearings that Trump tried to overthrow democracy thanks to these hearings. She has done a service to our country that I will always be grateful for. She has been brave herself as well.
Shame on Fox News to continue to downplay the hearings and to suggest it is partisan when nearing everyone testifying is Republican. Fox News like Donald doesn’t feel shame, so I will do it for them.
Liz Cheney isn’t likely to be reshaping the GOP anytime soon, since it’s become a cult that excommunicated her. Republicans obviously have no use for those who place their loyalty to the Constitution and nation above the party. Not that long ago, honoring one’s oath of office was expected. Now it’s become heroic. What is wrong with this picture?
As for Committee presentations, I was more impressed by Adam Kinzinger. I wish he would run in ’24. His closing statement yesterday should be required reading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FmOUPFOEZk
Did the Devil make you do it?
Vulgar, insulting and sexist. Yay!
I never understood the obsession with genitalia. Some individuals, particularly men, cannot help it, apparently.
Sigmund Freud thought women had penis envy. No, we don't, unless we are transgender, which is very rare.
I think it is pretty safe to say that Liz Cheney (probably) does not have male genitals and probably doesn't feel unhappy about it. Why on earth would she? I don't think she has come out as transgender.
Why stop with only one back-handed and insulting compliment? Bennie Thompson is clean, articulate and well-spoken for a colored boy. Yay!
Liz Cheney has a strong BACKBONE. She has integrity. Also Adam Kinzinger, the witnesses, the officers, and others. Collectively they are doing all of us a great public service.
Liz Cheney and all strong women deserve so much better than this.
Dear Anonymous,
Excellent comment. The idea--the meme--out there in the culture is "balls." I cited it because Liz Cheney is squarely taking it on. Backbones aren't gendered. She--wisely and correctly--noted that it was WOMEN who came forward while adult men hid. I mentioned "balls" so that I could agree with Liz Cheney and demolish the idea.
The takedown of Hawley was part of it. Look at the poseurs. Men acting macho.
I set up the "balls" reference in order to undermine it. I hoped that was clear. Apparently not, even though I started out with an apology to say what I intended. The good news is that Cheney doesn't need me to defend strong, invincible women. She is showing it.
She does so many things wrong in my opinion, but she is getting this one right, both on Trump and on how to look like a strong woman and how to BE a strong woman.
Peter Sage
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Peter Sage
It has been noted that if Liz Cheney were not so "conservative" many Independent and left leaning voters might support her as being of Presidential Caliber. I might even fall into that category if she were actually a Conservative like Republicans preSaint Ronnie of the Rayguns. Her 92.9% record of voting with Trump supported legislation belies that contention. She is just as consumed by the prion virus which has gripped the Republican Party as any run of the mill Regressive, and as President, other than not supporting an Armed Overthrow of a duly elected President and Government, I see nothing in her record which indicates that she might govern in any other fashion than what the Seditionist factions of the R Party (most of them) want. That said, she is to be commended and admired for her principled stand against the factions supporting the January 6 attempted Coup, and deserves an honorable mention for that stand in the History Books. Bearing in mind, that if the Republic fails, the Seditionists will write the Histories, and she will be reviled as a Traitor, if not worse.
Well said, Peter! Liz Cheney has, however, CHARACTER AND BRAVERY, not BALLS. I'm far from being a prude, but I think you, of all people, could come up with better metaphors.
Trump couldn't have nearly succeeded with a coup attempt if there weren't such massive division politically within our country. I blame Fox News and the Citizens United decision, and Gerrymandering for magnifying our present divisions. Still this may have been simply the first try at a coup. The next coup is probably in the planning stages in Mar-a-Lago now.
We should be thankful for Liz Chaney’s Wyoming upbringing that grew her strong character and the presence of mind to stand her ground around anyone like need I mention her dad. Whether you can stomach her conservative streak is altogether another matter. We ought to be able admire one strong character feature while holding opposing beliefs and political thought.
History note: Wyoming was the first state to grant women’s suffrage movement the rights for women to vote. Women and girls in Wyoming grow up with a history of equality.
Just because the current dialogue drops down to middle school or high school vulgarities doesn’t mean we all have to? Me thinks the man (Hawley, Cruz, Trump) doth protest too much…
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