or so the saying goes. And there it is: certainty is a stereotypically male trait, along with brashness, confidence, etc. This stereotype of the typical macho male is something that is played up very consciously by the Republicans. It is Bush's persona in a nut shell, and John McCain's too. Their know-it-allness is merely an extension of this.

I'm not bringing this down to gender level. It's already there--all I am doing is trying to figure out how it all works. What we are working with down here is stereotypes, caricatures, one-look reactions, all the things that people would never admit affect their decisions. We have to understand how this works, because if we don't Reoublicans are going to keep beating us with candidates who "just seem like nice guys," who "I'd like to have a beer with." We can't afford to ignore people's gut reactions, and the ways republicans manipulate them.