I'll Take the 60's for $300 Alex

Speaking about Judge Alito reminiscing about his college days, James Taranto in his Best of the Web today points out something on which I disagree. He points to a post by "Digby" on Atrios's website which states:

The [Vietnam] war provided two very distinct tribal pathways to manhood. One was to join "the revolution" which included the perk of having equally revolutionary women at their sides, freely joining in sexual as well as political adventure as part of the broader cultural revolution. (The 60's leftist got laid. A lot.) And he was also deeply engaged in the major issue of his age, the war in Vietnam, in a way that was not, at the time, seen as cowardly, but rather quite threatening. His masculine image encompassed both sides of the male archetypal coin--he was both virile and heroic.

The other pathway to prove your manhood was to test your physical courage in battle. There was an actual bloody fight going on in Vietnam, after all.

Taranto states that "By this puerile conception of masculinity, the ideal man would be one who embodies both Bill Clinton's tomcatting and John Kerry's showboating." By doing so he misses the point. Digby was showing extremes which by Digby's standards would be Lt. Calley on one end and Charles Manson on the other (Manson was a leftist revolutionary who did get laid a lot).

Me - I'm glad that Judge Alito was just a very good law student during the sixties.