MAUREEN DOWD ASCRIBES HER CRYPTOHOMOPHOBIA TO AMERICA FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME

Maureen Dowd thinks America joined Cult of Christie because Barack SpockBambi was too much of a metrosexual girlyman:

... You can blame Obama for the Christie tulip craze. The president has been so wan, he confused people into thinking that bluster was clarity. In a climate with no leadership, the bully looks like a man. If you've only been drinking water, Red Bull tastes like whiskey.

Obama's ethereal insipidity made Christie's meaty pugilism attractive; Obama's insistence on the cerebral made voters long for the visceral, even the gracelessly visceral.

George W. Bush was the Decider who engaged in thoughtless action. So America veered toward Obama, who engaged in thoughtful inaction. Then they careered toward Christie, another practitioner of thoughtless action.

When all you have is leading from behind, there's a place in your heart for in-your-face.

Was America ever actually attracted to "Christie's meaty pugilism"? I'm looking at Polling Report's collection of Christie polls, and back when he was known primarily as a big lug with anger management issues, in 2011, here were his numbers:

* CBS, 9/28-10/2/11: favorable 14%, unfavorable 15%
* Quinnipiac, 9/27-10/3/11: favorable 23%, unfavorable 17%
* Gallup, 3/25-27/11: favorable 27%, unfavorable 22%
* ABC/Washington Post, 9/29-10/2/11: should run for president 42%, shouldn't run 34%
* Fox News, 9/25-27, 2011: should run for president 32%, shouldn't run 39%

Sorry, that's not a groundswell; the public had decidedly mixed feelings about Christie. His favorable ratings got into the 40s and 50s much later, after he stopped being known primarily for being an angry lout and started being known for his response to Sandy -- Obama outreach included.

The politician whose approval numbers are consistently in the 50s and 60s is Dowd's nemesis Hillary Clinton. Is Dowd going to ascribe to "meaty pugilism" and "bluster"?

And no, I have no idea what the hell "If you've only been drinking water, Red Bull tastes like whiskey" means. But I guess it's just another way for Dowd tocall a non-macho Democrat a big fag.