Leashes

Okay, a number of people think the leash comment from the debate was out of line. I barely noticed it. Now I realize that it was not taken for what it was at least intended to be, which was a self-deprecating joke and not serious. That "leash" comment is a really, really common type of joke in this part of the country.

In a fucked-up way, it's supposed to be a compliment. People talk of their spouses and children like this all the time and it's not taken seriously. In fact, the insult-to-express-loving-bemusement is something I employ a few posts below when I jokingly pretend that my boyfriend, and not me, is the one who has bad taste in music. Unfolded, it means that I am the one with bad taste in music, but because I am embarrassed to say so, I am pretending that my boyfriend is but no one takes me seriously because they trust that I would never actually insult a loved one like that. In summary, it means that I not only have bad taste but I don't even have the guts to say so. Self-deprecating humor. (There's a whole 'nother level of meaning to self-deprecating humor, but I won't get into that.)

Told properly, his comment would have meant that while he knows that everyone expects him to rein his daughters in, he wouldn't even if he could because he admires their spirit. But of course, he didn't tell the damn joke properly--the proper stance when a man is saying this about his daughters is to beam with a pride that belies his pride in them. Bush said it like he means it. This is exactly why he's an embarrassment to Texas--on top of being evil, he doesn't even get our damn jokes right.

And yes, the whole premise of the joke--that daughters need to be firmly controlled--is flawed. But all in all, it's not as bad as it could be, because the joke itself is daughters are not controllable and that's a good thing. Too bad for Bush, his actual feelings--that uncontrollable women are a bad thing--came out as he flubbed the joke. You could tell he realized he was screwing it up as it came out, too, because he was telling the joke to a man whose wife he has publically criticized for being uncontrollable. The context was wrong, but mostly Bush himself is wrong. He just doesn't have the good nature to say things like that, even though he can fake it for entire 5 second clips at a time sometimes.

But still, it went past me mostly except that I thought, he isn't as funny as he thinks. Saying really nasty things with the proper twinkle that lets your audience know that those things are an elaborate self-deprecating joke is an art that a bully like him just can't master.