Tough is as tough does

[Stinky The Clown]

Triangulation is strategic .... but it isn't tough.

Sticking one's wet finger into the wind and responding with appropriate rhetoric gets one air time on teevee ..... but it isn't tough.

Voting in congress in a way that satisfies the powers that paid for you to spend a career there is loyal to those powers ..... but it isn't tough.

Going along to get along is safe ...... but it isn't tough.

Demonstrating 'moderation' is wishy washy at best ..... and it isn't tough.

Promising to fight for what's right ... and then folding your tent at the first whiff of difficulty prevents your opponent from being angry with you ...... but it isn't tough.

Posturing for a cause and then walking away will keep you safe ..... but it isn't tough.

Walking into the lion's den and calling the lion a son of a bitch and then on second reading owning the statement yet again won't make you popular with the lion ..... but it takes toughness.

Refusing to apologize for calling the lion a son of a bitch pisses off the lion ...... and it takes toughness.

Walking the corridors of the lion's lair and poking your fingers into the eyes of the lion's synchophants makes you a target ...... and takes toughness.

Going up against the lion's apologists, in public, all alone, and in the lion's lair is risky ..... and it takes toughness.

Quietly serving your country for your complete adult life and then retiring and refusing to just sit down, preferring instead to work to make things better for your fellow man ..... takes toughness

Flying 26 missions over occupied Europe when half of those who went before you failed to return for supper ..... and then opposing a war ...... takes toughness (Thank God for you, George McGovern.)

Can we recognize the tough guys (consider that gender neutral) and give them a salute?

My tough guys of the moment are Paul Hackett and Cindy Sheehan.

Who are your tough guys?

And .... who are your wimps?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Wow! That is a terrific post. I have no answer, just kudos for you.

Anything I add would just seem anticlimactic.

:applause: :woohoo: :yourock: :headbang: :thumbsup: :hi: :kick: :patriot:

[Sparkly]

2. Clark, Clarke, Wilson, Boxer, Conyers, Waters, Cleland, to name a few

and among the wimps: George W. Bush, Joe Lieberman, John McCain (I hate to say it as I once respected him), and Joe Scarborough.

[welshTerrier2]

3. yikes ... a kindred spirit ...

from the "you read my mind" files, here's a post i made in another thread today regarding the DLC strategy on toughness:

DLC strategy - right goal; wrong implementation ...

the DLC has long been a proponent of proving to America that Democrats are tough ... they would just love to kick the anti-war left out of the Party completely ... they believe all those "peacenik lefties" have allowed republicans to paint the Party as "weak on defense" ...

it is indeed important to let Americans know about the strength that Democrats have ... but the DLC is wrong to believe that this means we cannot oppose an ill-advised war and occupation that has no hope of succeeding ... they're not being tough; they're being stupid ...

the difference with Hackett's unapologetic style (and Hackett's view of the war and occupation is also wrong) is that it really does show America that Democrats have the "strength of their convictions and we're not afraid to tell it like it is" ... the mealy-mouthed equivocation most DLC'ers prefer sends the exact opposite message than what the DLC preaches ...

it portrays a Party so eager to find common ground in the middle that we don't have the courage to fight for the ground we believe in ... strength is not conveyed by selling out your beliefs to fight for voters in the political center; it comes from fighting for your deepest beliefs and showing voters that you have the courage of your convictions ...

[bonito]

4. RIGHT ON!

[sybil]

5. Resounding

...nails on head! Thanks for this...brilliant post.

The tough-minded among us, my personal favorites: Clark, Boxer, Hackett, Conyers, Feingold, D.K., Geo. Miller, Wilson, Sy Hersh - plus very recently, a dozen or so tough-minded-boots-on-the-ground Clarksters who put their money where their mouths are in OH-02 last week.

Wimps: Perle/Frum, Cheney/Rummy/Rove/Libby, "k-who?" - Leiberman-Lincoln and all the other congressional Dems of the illustrious 109th who voted with the wrong side of the aisle on the bankruptcy bill, the energy bill, the tort control bill yada yada yada...too long to list.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Good analogies -- but I wouldn't equate Bush with a lion. He's more of a

pussy.

[FrenchieCat]

7. I've got a few.....

http://www.johnconyers.com/vertical/Sites/{EF00C507-612C-4BA3-84C0-446C97F7E413}/uploads/{D907D1A8-7C9A-4DBE-A176-8B383184C0E4}_WEB.jpg

[Stinky The Clown]

9. That picture of Paul Wellstone ... a tue tough guy

As is Nelson Mandella. Endurance. Perseverance. Triumph.

Your pictures make it clear who the real tough guys are. They're the gentle souls with strong conviction. The guys who put right before self. The guys who carry on until victory or death.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Wimps: The usual suspects.

The Chimperor, of course -- the mother of all wimps. KKKarl, obviously; a slithering coward if there ever was one. Scooter Libby, who'd rather let Judith Miller sit in jail than issue a personal waiver and admit he met with her on 7/8/03. Ditto Bob Novak, a psycho douchebag wimp. Rush Limpballs, who used a boil on his ass to avoid Vietnam but has the gall to criticise Paul Hackett. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, and all the limp-dick media talking heads -- Hannity, DildO'Reilly, and Scarborough, just to name a few.

Tough guys: Paul Hackett, Cindy Sheehan, Wes Clark, Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill, Patrick Fitzgerald, Michael Moore, Howard Dean, Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters, John Conyers, Helen Thomas, George Galloway. And Paul Wellstone.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. It seems to me we have quite a few wimps on both sides of that great Aisle

I am sure that without too much effort we could all find a counter to everyone of your tough guy list. Which just makes the tough guys even tougher.

Helen Thomas has been a tough guy for over half a century.

Charlie Rangell ..... a tough guy's tough guy.

Wes Clark ... fits the mold perfectly.

Maxine Waters ..... nails ain't that tough!

I would add Joe Wilson ... and as was said in a thread here some days (weeks?) ago ...... I wish I could be half as good a husband as he. With his wife legally unable to defend herself, he goes to the mattresses on her behalf. He fights the very seat of the nation's power for his wife. Not only tough, but chivalrous in the classic sense.

But who on our side fits the wimp mold? Rather than pissing off others, I'll keep my mind on that score to myself ..... for now.