The Androgynous Dana

Want to see an impressive example of male leadership in action? Take a look at this video of President Bush pulling his Secret Service agent through the blockading Chilean police at the entrance to Friday night's APEC dinner.

The president seems to have been aware of some form of prior tension between the security services--his return to the door came too quickly for it to have been otherwise. Yet, in the midst of a charged atmosphere, his patient insistence on his guard being allowed through was most impressive. He simply stood at the back of the arguing clot in the doorway and, reaching over their shoulders, pulled on his agent's arm until it became clear to the Chileans that this president wasn't going in without his agent.

Immediately upon the agent's release President Bush returned to his host with a warm smile after a very slight dismissive shake of his head as he left the doorway. You can see video of the incident here.

President Bush's self-control and graceful extrication of his agent from the midst of a tense situation were striking. So it was shocking to read this description of the incident by Dana Bash on CNN:

According to a videotape of the incident, Bush turned around and saw that one of his Secret Service agents was being forcefully restrained from entering by Chilean security guards.

The president dove into the crowd, where people were arguing and pushing one another, and pulled the agent through the door of center.

After the successful rescue, Bush turned around, cocked his head proudly at his maneuver and began to greet his hosts.

The president "dove" into the crowd?! He "cocked his head proudly at his maneuver"?!

This reporter saw nothing more of the event than you can see yourself on the MSN video. She was watching the same APEC video feed available to the whole world, yet she characterizes it as a presidential mosh-pit-lunge followed by a schoolboy smirk. Someone should fire this woman. This is not reporting. This is a woman who thinks that because her mother gave her a confusingly androgynous name she can comment authoritatively on the world of male conflict. She's so confused by her name that she can't see quiet masculinity in action without shrilly screaming "Abuse! Pride! Arrogance."

Would that this woman's mother had named her Betsy... Perhaps then she would be less inclined to make asinine assumptions about how men are behaving in the midst of conflict.