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06 Aug 2008 09:51 am

My reliably unrestrained friend scolds his fellow libs for their Sturgis tut-tutting:

We're wasting our time beating up on John McCain for suggesting that his leathery ol' wife should participate in a topless/bottomless beauty pageant. Yes, Obama couldn't say it—but then Obama isn't a notorious ladies man and adulterer that dumped his first wife when she went and got all ugly and shit.

More to the point, and setting aside the issue of race, people think it's cute when the elderly pretend that they've still got it and say mildly racy (not racist!) things about their leathery ol' spouses. These comments would be interpreted very differently if Obama made them not because Obama is black (or a Democrat) but because Obama is young and virile and his wife is a total fucking fox. If Obama had suggested that Michelle enter a topless beauty pageant we would be forced to actually conjure up mental images of Michelle taking part because Michelle could. (And she could win.) When McCain says it about Cindy, we don't picture Cindy entering the contest because she couldn't and, on the off chance that she did, she certainly wouldn't win it.

People don't perceive sexual heat, or sexual tension, in McCain's marriage and therefore they don't perceive any in his comments. The people in that crowd—and the people watching the clip on YouTube—interpret them like this: "Hey, the old dude still thinks his old wife is hot—awww, isn't that cute?" Democrats and progressives straining to make an issue of this by playing "if Obama said it!" are making a mistake. We're not the party of idiotic, knee-jerk prudery and we look ridiculous when we pretend that we are.

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