August 23, 2011

When you think about Rick Perry, The New Yorker would like you to think about squeezed testicles.

From From "comment" in The New Yorker by Lawrence Wright:
Perry is the first graduate of Texas A & M to govern Texas. When he was a freshman, in 1968, the student body looked much like him: white, male, determinedly rural....  At A & M, Perry ran the winning campaign of his friend John Sharp for student-body president. In response, Sharp got his friend elected one of the campus’s five “yell leaders”—male cheerleaders. Perry considered being a yeller the higher office. A typical yell is: “Squads left! Squads right! / Farmers, farmers, we’re all right! / Load, ready, aim, fire, boom!” During tense moments in a football game, yellers grab their balls and shout, “Squeeze, Aggies!”
I was inclined to disbelieve that ball-squeezing thing. But I Googled it. There are some strange American folk traditions, apparently. But... why is this in an article about Rick Perry? Why merge that image with him? There's some psychological manipulation going on here!

Note that there is an ongoing effort among the media elite to create an aversion to Rick Perry by making him seem hyper-masculine in a disgusting or inappropriate way. I'll be keeping an eye on this. If you see evidence of this phenomenon, let me know — in the comments here or by email.

ADDED: A reader emails:
Squeezing is only figurative, and the yell leaders do it when the football team is attempting to kick a field goal.  Before the ball is snapped, they run down to the end zone and kneel down on one knee, abreast of one another with one hand over their crotch, waiting expectantly for the kick.  The "squeeze" is a figurative gesture, nobody really squeezes.  It's all done in good fun--a bombastic notion that self-induced pain would affect an outcome on the field.  People in the stands do it also, even girls. 

127 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

Did you miss the obvious?

... white, male, determinedly rural.... !

Oh, the horror!

Carol_Herman said...

Right off the bat! The New Yorker holds no one within it, that votes for Perry. Should this become the "choice."

Bet they didn't vote for Dubya, back in 2000, "neither."

Sometimes, when you hear how the opposition grandly gives out stories and advice ... ya gotta laugh. It's like being offered a plateful of stinky cheeses by the french.

Along with snails.

Nobody I know eats that stuff.

Crunchy Frog said...

I think you're supposed to squeeze the trigger, not your package.

What the New Yorker (and the rest of the lefty media) fails to realize is that the masculine cowboy image is a drawback only in the deep blue liberal bastions on the coasts. Everywhere else it is recognized as what built this country in the first place, and has been severely lacking of late.

LordSomber said...

At least it's not the "shocker."

Henry said...

The tradeoff, for the Perry pursuers, is what it says about the man they prefer.

No explicit comparison will be made, but if the context is masculinity and one man represents an extreme, where does that place the other?

Wince said...

Isn't this part of equating him in the public mind to Bush, the frat-boy cheerleader?

Hagar said...

Have you seen the cartoons they have been running of Rick Perry this past week?

Joe said...

The point of comparison is that Perry has balls to squeeze.

chickelit said...

Crunchy Frog wrote: What the New Yorker (and the rest of the lefty media) fails to realize is that the masculine cowboy image is a drawback only in the deep blue liberal bastions on the coasts. Everywhere else it is recognized as what built this country in the first place, and has been severely lacking of late.

Just to echo: The New Yorker might as well kick John Wayne in the nuts. What is wrong with those people? I guess we know who they think shot Liberty Valance.
______________
Full disclosure: my wife subscribes and I enjoy the cartoons.

Kirk Parker said...

Personally, I'm *so* much more comfortable with the Accidentally Rural.

Thorley Winston said...

So is the New Yorker saying that Perry is the candidate for people who “bitterly cling” to their balls (or cling to their bitter balls)?

Mark O said...

Squeezing balls is not nearly so strange as living in Wisconsin. Based on what I've read here.

Automatic_Wing said...

I wonder how many New Yorker readers would even consider voting against Obama anyway. Prolly not too many.

Trashhauler said...

“Squads left! Squads right! / Farmers, farmers, we’re all right! / Load, ready, aim, fire, boom!”

Sounds like the New Yorker forgot what the "M" stands for in "A&M."

But, then again, they probably don't identify with the Aggie Corps of Cadets much, either.

Scott M said...

If Perry is smart, he'll figure out some way to star in an Old Spice, Dos Equis, or Duracell (a la Robert Conrad) ad.

Anonymous said...

He's from Texas. The media doesn't need anything more as far as they're concerned. Case closed. Done deal. Pity the poor fools.

coketown said...

The New Yorker is going to have to take a number. #1 in my mind when thinking of squeezed balls is Hillary Clinton. #2 is Paul Ryan. What a dreamboat. <3

Also, I'm surprised the New Yorker didn't include a diagram with the post to explain to its readers what and where one's "balls" are. "Oh, those?! Honey, come read this. How perfectly crass!"

pm317 said...

I first met Rick Perry in 1985. He was a Democratic freshman state rep, straight off the ranch in Haskell, Texas. He wore his jeans so tight, and, umm, adjusted himself so often that my fellow young legislative aides and I used to call him Crotch. Even among state representatives, even among Texas Aggies (graduates of this cute remedial school we have in Texas), Perry stood out for his modest intellectual gifts. Hell, he got a C in animal breeding. I have goats who got an A in that subject. But lack of brains has never been a hindrance in politics.

That is Paul Begala in thedailybeast.

Peter said...

Rick Perry is white, male, determinedly rural. And therefore no one who's not racist would vote for him.

A non-sequitur? Or might this pass for logic at the New Yorker?

Paul said...

But Rick can't squeeze Obama's balls cause Obama does not have any.

As you may have noticed Obama is now at the lowest he has ever been in the polls, and not 8 points from being at where Bush was AFTER SEVEN YEARS IN OFFICE!

Hope you like the Change you voted for.

Anonymous said...

Paging Rick Perry.

Please contact the Crash-and-Burn Office. The main desk in this office you want to contact is: You-Will-Never-Be-POTUS.

Shouting Thomas said...

Ray Wylie Hubbard: Screw You, We're From Texas.

Ann Althouse said...

Cheerleading is the sport of presidents.

Name all the presidential cheerleaders.

Ned said...

Right out of the liberal/obama play book...total expected...only fools should be surprised

chickelit said...

@America's Politico:

I'd worry more about your prognostication track record around here if I were you.

bagoh20 said...

How much is Romney paying him to run interference?

Tom Spaulding said...

Michelle Obama is an Aggie? Who knew...


wv: "diestf"...all that's missing is "u".

bagoh20 said...

"Name all the presidential cheerleaders."

Well, in actual practice, that is the majority of the job description. Although, Obama is kinda cheering for the opposite team.

bagoh20 said...

Bulge versus crease. Ladies, vote your preference.

Substance or style?

Scott M said...

Substance or style?

Non sequitur. The bulge could be a potato.

edutcher said...

If they have a problem with masculinity, it explains their love for President Mom Jeans.

SteveR said...

To the extent, folks that write for The New Yorker know anything about colleges in Texas, its likely to be about UT Austin. A&M has a culture of its own, barely understood by most Texans. Of course, Perry could be elected quite easily without a single vote from anyone who reads The New Yorker.

rhhardin said...

Wretched, thrice wretched men, keep your hands from your testicles.

- Empedocles

Seeing Red said...

The point of comparison is that Perry has balls to squeeze.



That's because he's never been anywhere near the 1st lady.

SPImmortal said...

Paging Rick Perry.

Please contact the Crash-and-Burn Office. The main desk in this office you want to contact is: You-Will-Never-Be-POTUS.

----

He's already tied in the polls with your miserable failure of a president. In 6 months he'll be ahead by double digits.

Erik said...

Foreigners are getting into the act as well… From France:

The (David J Phillip) photo of Rick Perry chosen by Le Monde's print edition to illustrate Sylvain Cypel's article on the Texas governor's joining the Republican race has (needless to say) Perry and his image on the screen behind him looking like a maniac.

http://no-pasaran.blogspot.com/2011/08/french-attack-on-political-egotist-rick.html

The opening sentence of Sylvain Cypel's article suggests that Rick Perry is an egotist, politically speaking at least, who is delighted with the degradation of America's debt, since that will (quelle horreur) hurt Barack Obama and since that in turn will benefit Perry's election prospects.

http://www.lemonde.fr/journalelectronique/donnees/protege/20110813/html/11081306_USA+X1P1_ori.jpg.180.jpg

David said...

This is a great idea.

Let's judge all the candidates by their conduct as undergraduates.

Obama? Obama? Obama? Obama?

Anonymous said...

Wait - I'm so confused - I thought the plan was to kickstart a "Rick Perry is gay" whispering campaign? Did I miss something? Or is the story now that he's gay, but manly-gay, not queeny-gay?

Man, the tolerant left needs to get their character assassination act together and on the same page, fast.

Anonymous said...

A&M," originally short for "Agricultural and Mechanical

KCFleming said...

Perry's balls versus Obama's camel toe.

KCFleming said...

" Then how come you look like the devil just grabbed them little raisins you call balls?"

Dolores Claiborne

garage mahal said...

Both Perry and Bush were both male college cheerleaders? Interesting.

Diamondhead said...

As a graduate of Texas A&M, I can speak to the issue of testicle clenching. The video posted here shows a particular, peculiar outfit of the Corps of Cadets - not the yell (cheer) leaders, which is what Rick Perry was. This ball squeezing would be more in line with the larger population of various odd military-class traditions, which, if The New Yorker was so inclined, would likely make a fascinating article in itself. I never saw the white-clad yell leaders squeeze their balls.

David said...

Presidential Cheerleaders (Without Looking It Up):

Bush 43
FDR
Eisenhower
TR
Harding
Reagan

No so sure about Harding but pretty sure of the others.

Christopher in MA said...

"Both Perry and Bush were male college cheerleaders? Interesting."

What's the matter, garage - DeVry doesn't have a cheer squad?

lgv said...

I look forward to Perry leaving us to go to Washington. It will immediately increase the average intelligence of both locales.

I wish he would resign so he can focus more on his presidential run.

I feel disheartened that I will now support Romney for the nomination. I am now giving up on finding the generic republican. He/she doesn't exist.

bgates said...

Name all the presidential cheerleaders.

David Brooks, Tom Friedman, Nina Totenberg, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, you....

John said...

The New Yorker is secretly in the tank for Rick Perry. They are trying to associate Rick Perry with Michael Jackson, and make him an international pop star.

wwwww said...

fdr, eisenhower, w bush reagan?

David said...

That's funny bgates.

I did name all the Presidential cheerleaders, but I named two who most sources do not mention. I think I am right on one of those two.

It is by the way a list of some very good presidents, at least by popular conception (though many don't agree about Bush.)

chickelit said...

Bill Clinton was a leer cheader.

KCFleming said...

Lefties who were former school cheerleaders:
Meryl Streep, Kathy Griffin, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"It takes balls to execute an innocent person."

Isn't that Rick Perry's campaign slogan?

Background:

Perry went ahead with the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham despite bona fide concerns about his guilt. After his execution, when it was starting to become more clear that Willingham was actually innocent, Perry sabotaged the official inquiry.

The quote above is supposedly from a focus group member regarding Perry's possible candidacy for President.

Now Althouse is, in this post, trying to get ahead of the issue.

She likes Perry. So she frames any questioning of his decisions and conduct in this matter as at the level of squeezed-testicles and male cheerleading-- unjustified slime-throwing by the "media elite".

edutcher said...

David said...

This is a great idea.

Let's judge all the candidates by their conduct as undergraduates.

Obama? Obama? Obama? Obama?


First, you'd have to find somebody who actually remembers going to school with him.

seguin said...

Begala's got a lot of, ummm, Crotch to call Texas A&M a "remedial school" considering we're (I'm an Aggie) in the top 20 for various types of engineering, especially industril, where we're in the top ten.

I'm guessing he's a Lib Arts grad...the type of guy who wouldn't know a quality school unless it has fancy stationary.

KCFleming said...

That's nothing, Julius.

Obama personally shot Osama in the haid and ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

KCFleming said...

Cameron Todd Willingham's ex-wife Stacy Kuykendall said he admitted to killing the children.

"My ex-husband murdered my daughters, and just before he was exectued, he told me he did it," said Kuykendall, reading from a statement. "He stood and watched while their tiny bodies burned."

BoboFromTexas said...

In as little over a year the left can quit blaming Bush because they will have the newly elected President Perry for everything from insomnia to reversing the fall in sea level so expertly instituted under the Obama Administration.

Bryan C said...

How does one become "determinedly rural"? Is there a ceremony involved? Perhaps involving tractors and scrapple? And why haven't I ever been invited?

Mike Koenecke said...

In response to Seguin: Paul Begala went to UT, so he has a natural animosity towards Aggies. Funny story: when I was at UT (law school), the student government was revived, and in the first election for student body president a campaign was mounted for "Hank the Hallucination," an Eyebeam comic strip character created by Sam Hurt. Hank the Hallucination won the election in a landslide of write-in votes (mine included). The fellow who came in second, and won the subsequent runoff, was Paul Begala.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...

Presidential Cheerleaders (Without Looking It Up):

Bush 43
FDR
Eisenhower
TR
Harding
Reagan

No so sure about Harding but pretty sure of the others.


Gerald Ford, I think.

George said...

Seems like the comments about the A&M 'yeller' are pretty tame compared to the gauntlet that the Yalie frat boys taunted the new girls with. Which school is the more 'sophisticated'?

Heart_Collector said...

So the strategy is to make this guy look like a manly cowboy. Is this supposed to scare all the hipster metrosexual emo geekdom population into voting for someone who isnt?

NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...

Whoops! Ford played football!

Edmund said...

I never saw the white-clad yell leaders squeeze their balls.

I went to Rice in the mid 70s and they did at the Rice/A&M games.

The cheers at Rice were as unusual as the ones at A&M. When the other team scored, which they did quite often, we'd yell: "That's alright, that's O.K., you're gonna work for us one day!"

Or the popular:
e^y dy/dx
e^x dx
sec tan cos sin
3.14159
cube root, square root
BTU
compass, slide rule
GO RICE U!

vw: fluta - a person in the Aggie band that plays the flute

NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...

Rick Perry is white, male, determinedly rural.

And Obama is half white, male (I guess), indecisively urban. Hence the reason they hate Perry, he's everything Obama's not!

Titus said...

I think squeezing balls is hot.

The Comedian said...

So this explains why Jesse Jackson wanted to cut Obama's nuts out, you know, to make him safe.

/sarcasm
//maybe?

Bruce Hayden said...

The problem for the libs here is that strong and masculine is likely to sell well this coming election. Our economy is in bad shape, and that may be attributed by some to Obama's weakness (and feminism).

Who are Americans going to trust? The President who got us into this mess? Or a strong male figure who can tell us that if they elect him and enough Republicans in the Senate, we can undo all the damage the Dems have done to the ecomy and the country over the last 4 1/2 years?

Yes, Aggies are weird. But Ivy League educated elites got us here through their belief in their ability to think for the rest of us. Epic fail, to the tune of trillions of dollars of deficit and millions of jobs.

My point is that Dems, the left, etc., are worried about Perry (Palin and Bachmann) for very good reason. They are trying to get a handle on how to take him down, and so far are failing.

Scott M said...

You think Bachmann's got a shot?

Scott M said...

Snarkfail.

That Bachmann quip was supposed to include your quote:

Or a strong male figure who can tell us that if they elect him and enough Republicans in the Senate, we can undo all the damage the Dems have done to the ecomy and the country over the last 4 1/2 years?

When snark goes bad...

Quilly_Mammoth said...

People going to a school called "Aggie" are determinedly rural. Get the fuck out! Really?

Bruce Hayden said...

Gerald Ford, I think


My memory too, but he also was a football star, etc. One of the most athletic Presidents, which is why the Chevy Chase skits were so misleading - this was the guy that the SS had a hard time keeping up with on skiis.

mariner said...

Trashhauler,
Sounds like the New Yorker forgot what the "M" stands for in "A&M."

But, then again, they probably don't identify with the Aggie Corps of Cadets much, either.

Huh?

It doesn't stand for anything, now. It never did stand for "Military".

Just sayin'

waltc said...

Heart_Collector said...

So the strategy is to make this guy look like a manly cowboy. Is this supposed to scare all the hipster metrosexual emo geekdom population into voting for someone who isnt? 8/23/11 2:08 PM


If they portray him as a rough and tumble cowboy he's sure to get the gay vote. I wonder if they realize that.

Don M said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thorley Winston said...

Wait - I'm so confused - I thought the plan was to kickstart a "Rick Perry is gay" whispering campaign? Did I miss something? Or is the story now that he's gay, but manly-gay, not queeny-gay?

So basically he’s Captain Jack Harkness. And I guess that makes Obama Lafayette Thornton but with fewer job skills.

Don M said...

George Soros told Obama he would attract more attention from the ladies if he put a potato in his pants.

So Obama put a potato in his pants. The attention Obama got was negative. They laughed, pointed, and occasionally spit on him.

The Secret Service was tired of it. Finally one agent was selected to tell him.

"Mr. President, you should put the potato in the front."

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

The liberal media has a hysterical reaction to all things testosterone. For the males, it goes back to their lack of success on the playground in elementary school and they will never change without a major psychic upheaval. This is a very rare occurance. The good news is that the majority of voters are on to them.

Real American said...

a president with balls? we could use one off those right now.

Alan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alan said...

Well, as several have alluded to, we Fightin' Texas Aggies are a different bunch. There's even an expression that goes:

"From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. From the inside looking out, you can't explain it."

I expect either puzzlement about or put-downs of Aggies to increase as long as Perry is in the spotlight. And, yes, the yell leaders still "squeeze"--watch them closely whenever a place kick (FG or PAT attempt) is made.

Hell, here's a couple of links to attempt to "explain":
A&M Traditions
Yell Leaders

Martin said...

I keep remembering that picture of Obama on the girl's bike, with the silly helmet, about a year ago...

Not sure what is going on in the minds of the chattering classes, like, what is the point?...but this is all pretty weird.

LordSomber said...

We need The Perfect Cheer.

sorepaw said...

Aggies are very weird. In Texas non-Aggies tell Aggie jokes.

But Rick Perry didn't invent any of their strange traditions.

The establishment media are truly desperate.

Anonymous said...

Ummm, well, none of the people that actually read the New Yorker (as opposed to lining their bird cage with it) are likely to vote for Perry anyway. And nobody else gives a flying fornication what they think. So maybe they should just go back to cheerleading Obama's vacations.

sorepaw said...

I can't see Paul Begala on TV without remembering that he lost to Hank T. Hallucination.

Michael said...

Gerald Ford was played football at the University of Michigan and played in an exhibition College All-Star game against the Chicago Bears. He was not a cheerleader.

Mike said...

Ah the New Yorker has its tidy little whities all in a knot.

Aside from being white, male and determinedly rural, Texas A&M through their ROTC program produced more military officers for the USA in WW II than did West Point.

"Rural" is bad enough--but "military"! My stars and garters, those boys at the New Yorker will be hopping up and down and getting the vapors.

Of course the real truth is that none of those metrosexuals have any balls to squeeze.

The Ruminator said...

Julius,

Guess researching what you post about doesn't appeal to you, eh? The Governor of Texas doesn't have commutation authority, he/she can only grant a 30 day reprieve. The Texas board of parole must intercede and recommend commuting a death penalty, but if they don't it's adios muchachos no matter what the Governor does.

Now what Julius, what other smears can you come up with ... he's gay, no he's hyper-masculine, no he's ... What, pinhead?

Joe said...

From the Texas A&M site:

1.What does "A&M" stand for?

Texas A&M, the state's first public institution of higher education, was opened on Oct. 4, 1876 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and at that time the "A" and "M" initials were used to abbreviate the name components. When the institution gained university status in 1963, the "A&M" representation (no periods, no spaces and with an ampersand) was incorporated into the official name in deference to the institution's history and rich traditions, but the individual letters no longer explicitly stand for anything.

Automatic_Wing said...

So basically he’s Captain Jack Harkness. And I guess that makes Obama Lafayette Thornton but with fewer job skills.

I think the implication is that Rick Perry is Captain Clarence Oveur, which means that Obama is Roger Murdock, but with less "game".

JorgXMcKie said...

Why is it that Leftist "intellectuals" always confuse verbosity and sesquipedalian speech with intelligence?

If that were true, some of those characters on "In Living Color" would be the smartest guys in the world.

Jose_K said...

Supposedly the word testimony came from the customary roman law. The witness must put the hand on his testicles before deposition. So they were representing a law tradition.

Christy said...

Josh Trevino on Facebook: “Sorry about the earthquake, DC. That was just Rick Perry getting off his horse.” #wishidthoughtofthat.

via
PJTatler

Roger J. said...

Gerald Ford was an ALL AMERICAN guard when he played football for Michigan--
Perhaps the best athlete who was ever the POTUS--Saturday night live nothwithstanding--Sad when the public only knows what late night comedy shows put out as satire.

Anonymous said...

In the 1960s and '70s, Texas A&M transformed from a small, regional college to a major research university.
Texas A&M today:
--Has 50,000+ students on campuses in College Station, Galveston and the Middle Eastern country of Qatar
--Conducts more than $630 million in research annually, ranking behind only MIT and Berkeley among universities without a medical school
--Has an endowment of more than $5 billion, ranking fourth among U.S. public universities and tenth overall
--Was ranked second last fall in a Wall Street Journal survey of employers for providing graduates who are academically well-rounded and prepared for the workforce
--Ranks in the top ten for National Merit Scholars
--Has average SAT scores of 1210, with more than one quarter of incoming freshmen each year being first-generation college students
--Has more than 800 student-run events, clubs and organizations, including the Big Event, the largest one-day community service project of its kind, with more than 15,000 students participating

Beldar said...

Prof. Althouse, as much time as you've spent in Austin and as much contact as you've had with the University of Texas and its partisans, I'm surprised you didn't already know about the Aggies and their testicles.

"Chigaroogarem, Chigaroogarem,
Rough, Tough, Real stuff, Texas A&M."

Roger J. said...

Beldar: Ms Althouse is the eptiome of a sophomore, derived from the orginial Greek: wise fool

Dave said...

Win or lose, Perry's campaign is going to be f**king awesome.

Beldar said...

@ Julius: The governor of Texas, be he Rick Perry or anyone else, has no power to pardon those on Death Row. His power is limited to the granting of one temporary stay. This is in the Texas state constitution, and cannot be changed without amending that document. And that's not going to happen, because the way that limitation got written into the Texas constitution was that there was a "pardons for pay" scandal involving Democratic governor Ma Ferguson back in the interwar period of the early 20th Century: Texans don't want our governors to have broad pardon powers.

So the event that you attribute to Rick Perry wasn't attributable to him.

The entities charged by our state constitution and laws with determining this individual's guilt or innocence and the proper punishment for guilt do not include the governor. But those entities were indeed responsible for Willingham's trial and many, many subsequent years of appeals and habeas corpus challenges. It is to them that your argument ought be addressed.

If you're looking for people upon whom to attribution causation to a result, you certainly would have to include all the judges of the SCOTUS, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, several intermediate Texas appellate courts, the trial court, the trial judge and jury, and the Texas Board of Pardons & Paroles. Each of them was far more involved in Mr. Willingham's fate, even if you believe -- as I most emphatically do NOT -- that he was innocent.

So basically, you're full of crap, promoting some nonsense that you've probably been fed by someone else without bothering to investigate its plausibility or even its possibility.

You're a troll, in other words, so this will both begin and end our conversation. I've already wasted more time on your nonsense than it, or you, deserve by writing this much.

Roger J. said...

Julius is a sophomre in spades (no racial allusion implied)--Damn Beldar: dont confuse trolls with facts--totally screws up the narrative

Grow up Julius: this is a learning opportunity for you.

Roger J. said...

Oh: pardon the typo: sophomore

Anonymous said...

When the institution gained university status in 1963, the "A&M" representation (no periods, no spaces and with an ampersand) was incorporated into the official name in deference to the institution's history and rich traditions, but the individual letters no longer explicitly stand for anything.

So you could go to College Station and major in A if you wanted to? Could you first go to community college, get an associates' degree in T, and then transfer?

Roger J. said...

Julius: man up--now is the time to say "thank you, Beldar. I was wrong."

Probably too difficult for you to do.

showbiz111 said...

I would think that the democrats might think they are the "testicles" being squeezed by Perry and the Aggies, but then I thought that dems are eunuchs, so there must be a different reason this annoys dems.
Yeah, maybe it's that the Aggies have something down there to squeeze, which makes the dems envious?

jacksonjay said...

I've live in Texas all my life. Voted for Rick three times. My niece just graduated from A & M. I have never heard of this and now feel a little creepy. My daughters went to THE University of Texas. I just thought Austin was weird

Trooper York said...

The reason why mainstream media and New Yorker Mag types are upset by the Aggies is because they have no balls to squeeze.

Fingering their pussies is about the best they can do,

Silly Old Mom said...

I thought "determinedly rural" referred to libs who moved out to the country to live on a "farm."

Severely Ltd. said...

"Cheerleading is the sport of presidents.

Name all the presidential cheerleaders." Ann

Wasn't Bush? Jimmy Buffet was too.

Severely Ltd. said...

"Cheerleading is the sport of presidents.

Name all the presidential cheerleaders." Ann

Wasn't W? Jimmy Buffet was too!

Jeff said...

"I first met Rick Perry in 1985. He was a Democratic freshman state rep, straight off the ranch in Haskell, Texas."

This means Perry was a Democrat during his ball-grabbing days.

walter said...

That is an odd tradition. Most universities teach their students to squeeze the rich.

but Pogo, is it wise to rely on the testimony of an ex wife? Just sayin'...

Robert said...

The New Yorker good grief. I've read it for close to sixty years. Long Winded Lady, Audax Minor, Big and Brassy, Christ it was a view into a world that just possibly existed. My parents read about horse shows in the twenties, college football, the price of bootleg whiskey, as if they didn't know to the nickel. Jesus, they did profiles of Tammany guys. You'd wait for it weekly, always had a laugh or two, Chas Adams, Peter Arno.Now what is it, a top shelf Nation with ads. They haven't published a funny cartoon in twenty years. What can you say, the left has killed it's own wit. You thinkRoss would spend half a minute on Bill Maher? Forget it, throw it away, it's lousy cover to cover.

Darren Duvall said...

@Ann

I realize your post about A&M's current status was likely cut and paste from somewhere else, but TAMU does have a College of Medicine. At least, enough of one to convince the State Board of Medical Examiners as to my fitness to hold a medical license. It is a unique large state college, most state schools are distinguished in some way but A&M has a far more conservative culture than others, probably due to its relative isolation and the large role the military has played in its institutional history. It is still a very tradition-oriented place, with the kind of rabid alumni loyalty, to the institution and to each other, not often seen outside of SEC football schools.

Sincerely,

Darren Duvall, MD
TAMU College of Medicine '94

Anonymous said...

Perry: "I’ve got my fist cocked if you still want to fuck with me."

Obama: "Don't make me call my bluff."

Who would you rather have for President when the stuff hits the fan?

William said...

I'm a faithful New Yorker reader. I'd like to think I have some kind of colored glasses that shield me from the slant in their political reporting, but probably not. Their hit pieces are done with considerable subtlety and malice and become part of one's thinking. They're very good at it.....You could take those same bare facts and make Perry into an uncomplicated fellow who knows his mind and cheers for what's right, but then it would not be a New Yorker piece......I read that damn put down of Bachmann in last week's issue. She seems to be leading a balanced, useful life and some of that is thanks to her religious beliefs. A belief in God inspires things other than antipathy to homosexuality and Darwin. Her wish to adopt all those foster children came from her religious beliefs. Isn't that more significant fact about her than her belief in intelligent design.

William said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AmyK said...

@Darren, the College of Medicine was part of the university when it was new, but for many years has been a stand-alone member of the A&M System, equal on the org chart to Texas A&M and with no more affiliation to Texas A&M than any of the other 10 universities or seven state agencies.

Lawyer Mom said...

Down here in Texas, we love our Agro-Americans, even the ones who publicly adjust. Go, Aggies!

Craig said...

If the purpose of attending college is to find a mate who can enhance your prospects for success, why would anyone choose to attend a college that did not begin admitting the fairer sex until after Perry had presumably graduated? Co-education destroyed the most highly esteemed of all Texas institutions, the Aggie joke.

Freder Frederson said...

This Republican field and the media reaction to it is just tying you in knots, isn't it Althouse? A couple weeks ago you were ecstatic at the prospect that women were doing so well in the Republican field, demonstrating, according that Republicans just aren't that concerned about outward signs of masculinity. Now, as Rick Perry is portrayed as a macho buffoon, you sneer at the pansy New Yorker because they don't understand that grabbing one's crotch and being a Macho Man is a positive to most voters.

Which is it? It certainly can't be both.

C R Krieger said...

From the part of the article I read I found out that George W Bush was bipartisan down in Texas.  So, what happened in DC?  Did Bush change?  No one believes Bush was capable of change.

Regards  —  Cliff

Scott M said...

Which is it? It certainly can't be both.

It is completely possible to be both if you're not hung up on identity politics. You're not, are you?

Anonymous said...

"... why would anyone choose to attend a college that did not begin admitting the fairer sex until after Perry had presumably graduated?"

Texas A&M became a university in 1963, when it also became coeducational and made participation in the Corps of Cadets optional. Perry graduated in 1972.

Anonymous said...

@Darren, I know the culture very well. In fact, if you haven't been back lately, I encourage you to do so. You might be surprised at the changes. Plus, the new biotech corridor that's being established on the far west campus, between the vet school and Riverside Campus (with the new Health Science Center facilities in the middle), is really impressive.