Word: toughness
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...Putin has used the opportunity presented by Saakashvili to show Russia's neighbors that Washington's tough talk could not be matched by any meaningful response to the Kremlin's military campaign. Bush may now be trying to play catch-up with his tough talk, but reversing the impact of the Russian offensive will require a lot more than stitching up a bloodied Georgia and casting Russia out of the G-8 or boycotting the 2014 Winter Olympics. (Thursday's announcement of a deal between the U.S. and Poland to station missile interceptors on Russia's doorstep over increasingly bellicose...
...Which is the other challenge that comes with tempering Franken's sense of humor: he can't use it to hide his aggression. Franken is that rare confrontational nerd, the tough Jew of a generation before him instead of the smoother, modern one that Coleman exemplifies. He still has the chest and disposition of a high school wrestler, and he famously took down a disruptive heckler at a Howard Dean rally in 2004. He loves obscure policy details, partly because he can use them to verbally beat up opponents. At the debate with Coleman on Aug. 5 at Farmfest...
...attacks on Laboureur. Some condemned what they considered an American-styled political correctness, which reduces all conflicts to a vulnerable victim suffering the abuse of aggressors. In a nation that still celebrates the progressive ideals of the May 1968 student movement, the surge of backing for Laboureur's tough-line discipline took many observers by surprise...
...there is some evidence that such get-tough logic doesn't stand up to facts. French education experts who oppose corporal punishment cite official U.S. statistics showing the number of students reporting physical punishment from teachers fell by 42% between 1994 and 2004. During that same period, the percentage of American educators claiming they'd be verbally or physically abused by students halved, from 13% to 7%. That data is difficult for French supporters of the rod to dismiss as more weak-willed American PC - suggesting as it does that clashes in classrooms generally decrease when both sides show...
...hard to miss the contrast between President Bush's tough talk on Wednesday over Russia's intervention in Georgia, and the reality check offered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates a day later. While Bush promised that the U.S. military would rush relief supplies to Georgia and warned the Russians that Washington expected them to retreat from Georgian territory, Gates was careful to make clear that the U.S. has no desire to get involved in the fight between the Russian bully and its Georgian victim. "I don't see any prospect for the use of military force by the United States...