going, going

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Feb 04, 2004

"We're going to tell all those white boys who run the Republican Party to stay out of our bedrooms!"

That's Howard Dean, addressing supporters in Seattle earlier this week. The Seattle Times reporter claims the line provoked one of the biggest ovations of the evening.

I live a much more uneventful existence than Doctor Dean, as I have never found or expected to find the Republican National Committee, in whole or in part, under my bed or on top of my dresser. It has to be a nuisance.

Yet I can't help but feel concerned by Dean's language. Isn't it more than a little peculiar for an adult male of European ancestry to assume the identity of a "woman of color" -- a woman of color threatened by those white boys out there? Isn't it odd that a 56-year-old male should find the bedroom a place of special menace? In all events, the picture he paints of himself jerking the bedlinens up to his throat in outraged modesty and squealing at the big bad men who have invaded his boudoir is not reassuring.

Is there a psychotherapist in the house?