Some might not like the source...

...but the guy has a point all the same. Richard Lowry has an article in National Review about how Bush is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Extract:

Sometimes a political figure becomes so hated that he can't do anything right in the eyes of his enemies. President Bush has achieved this rare and exalted status. His critics are so blinded by animus that the internal consistency of their attacks on him no longer matters. For them, Bush is the double-bind president.

If he stumbles over his words, he is an embarrassing idiot. If he manages to cut taxes or wage a war against Saddam Hussein with bipartisan support, he is a manipulative genius.

"Cowboy!"

A while ago I posted a bit on how there are different perceptions of some words than what there really ought to be. Now rillifane has pointed out this article which sums up the differing attitude about the name cowboy far more effectively than I did. The bit about the perception of frontier is also worth noting. Of course, the really important message isn't about a couple words. It's about an attitude.