Conservatives Mock Obamacare's Pajama Boy Because They're Scared of Him

The New Republic ^ | December 19, 2013 | Noreen Malone

[2ndDivisionVet]

The part of this week's conservative straw-man is being played, appropriately enough, by a stock photo. "Pajama boy," as the young bespectacled man the Obama administration chose for its latest health care PSA has come to be known, has swiftly become a figure of delighted outrage on the right. He has been the subject of no fewer than three articles in the National Review, plus an essay in Politico Magazine by the National Review's Rich Lowry. Lowry lays out the conservative perception of the stock-photo model he terms an "insufferable-man-child":

Pajama Boy is about as threatening as Michael Cera and so nerdy he could guest-host on an unwatched MSNBC show. He is probably reading The Bell Jar and looking forward to a hearty Christmas meal of stuffed tofurkey. If he has anything to say about it, Obamacare enrollments will spike in the next few weeks in Williamsburg and Ann Arbor.

Perhaps the goal of OFA was to create a readily mockable image to draw attention to its message, in which case Pajama Boy was a brilliantly successful troll. The right immediately Photoshopped him into the Mandela funeral selfie and emblazoned his photo with derisive lines like, “Hey girl, I live with my parents,” and, “How did you know I went to Oberlin?”

Lowry goes on to connect what he characterizes as an immature version of masculinity with a liberal's overreliance on a paternalistic government. "Pajama Boy’s mom probably still tucks him in at night, and when she isn’t there for him, Obamacare will be," he writes. Millennials and Democrats just love their mommies too much! But while this is a ritual mockery that's ostensibly about Obamacare, what it really reveals is a long-boiling, deep-seated-fear on the right of the moment when a more beta-appearing-man becomes the mainstream notion of masculinity....

[2ndDivisionVet]

Yeah, scared that he's the face of the future.

[Ronin]

Bwahaahahahaha!!!!

I am happy I wasn’t drinking coffee when I read that. Man, it would have been spew city!

[dforest]

I know, I gagged on my sinus drainage.

[SwankyC]

Conservatives Mock Obamacare's Pajama Boy Because They're Scared of Him

...of getting hit with his purse?

[Newbomb Turk]

I’m not scared of anyone who lives in their moms basement.

[sickoflibs]

I agree, he's another Rambo

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Pajamaboy makes metrosexuals look downright macho.

[defconw]

I am now shaking beer out of my keyboard! Thank You Very Much. :) Bonus: Scared the crap out of the cat.

[KC_Lion]

I am the only one who thinks he looks like Leonard form the Big Bang Theory!?!

I have yet to see a reference to that.

[Texas Songwriter]

SOMEONE has them in derision.

[JRandomFreeper]

beta-appearing-man becomes the mainstream notion of masculinity....

Women will prove that to be a lie. They are wired by nature to be attracted to strong, competent providers.

/johnny

[Viennacon]

Satire, right?

[Ray76]

Well done!

[Innovative]

I think he looks creepy... would worry if he were in a house with small children...

[Venturer]

Any HIV free Homo should be careful of him.

[laplata]

LOL!!!

[sickoflibs]

:)

I found that pic earlier and saw it was perfect for this thread.

[Gene Eric]

That’s it, marginalize the objection by labeling it a phobia...

[laplata]

Those are bubbles coming out of his butt.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Leonard is a lumberjack in comparison.