Posted on 07/17/2011 9:20:06 AM PDT by markomalley
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is gracing the cover of the current issue of Newsweek magazine. As can be expected, she is receiving some criticism — this time over her image. Earlier today, Jonathan Capehart took to The Washington Post’s PostPartisan blog to criticize the 2008 vice-presidential candidate. In making a clear reference to her garb and presence in the cover photo (see right), he writes:
Folks want to be able to envision someone sitting in the Oval Office. They don’t necessarily want to envision them in the pages of Esquire magazine’s “Sexiest Woman Alive 2011” or Maxim. She can’t possibly be taken seriously as a presidential contender dressed like that, especially since this is the second time she has graced Newsweek in a less-than-presidential pose.
(video at link)
Examining Palin’s cover image, one may wonder where the author drew his comparison to Esquire or Maxin from. Capehart also cites the fact that this is the second non-professional outfit Palin has worn on a Newsweek cover (although the image that was used in 2009 was taken for Runner‘s World and used at Newsweek’s discretion; a photographer leaked the images, which Palin lamented. Capehart declines to include this key fact in his post).
He goes on delve into what he calls a more “substantive” critique. He writes that he is “particularly incensed by the lunacy” of Palin‘s take on the nation’s potential default on its debts. In her interview with Newsweek, Palin questioned how severe the situation truly is:
“It is not the apocalypse,” she said, and questioned the need for the urgent negotiating sessions Republicans and Democrats were conducting in search of a debt-limit agreement (ongoing at press time). “The fact is that we have $2.6 trillion in revenue coming in, and if we just use some common sense there—take that revenue, service the debt first, take care of national priorities—we don’t have to increase debt.”
While Capehart accuses Palin of sputtering “nonsense,” he doesn’t spend much time defining his actual issues with her political statements. Instead, he refers readers to a previous post to explain why he thinks her comments constitute insanity. In his other article, which focuses on the nation’s debt, he writes:
Failure to raise the national debt limit is not akin to a government shutdown. Whereas a government shutdown would prevent Social Security checks from being issued until the impasse were resolved, default would stop Social Security checks cold as the federal government moved first to pay the debts it has already incurred with the cash it has or will collect. The damage from a default would be far-reaching and long-lasting.
He concludes his Palin hit piece by targeting her for quitting halfway through her gubernatorial term and questioning why anyone would take her seriously as a leader. Then, he calls Palin’s assertion that she “can win” in 2012 “laughable” and says that she’s a star merely trying to hang on to her fame.
It‘s interesting to see such criticism of a potential presidential candidate’s clothing, considering the praise President Obama has received for his shirtless escapades on the beach. President Bush, too, was known for occasionally sporting “plain folks’” clothing. Is there a difference, here, perhaps due to the fact that Palin is a woman?
Either way, the dig about her garb has little to do with viable disagreements with her policy stances.
So what does it take for a presidential contender to be taken seriously? Click over to The Blog where Meredith offers up more thoughts on this story.
And a regular on MSDNC. Can't get a real job there Jonathan?
It definitely needs a layered trimming of about three inches which would would make all the difference in the world. She looks gorgeous and more stately in an updo, that's for sure.
Right now her hairdo reminds me of those of the saloon can-can-dancing ladies during the '49 Gold Rush days in the Yukon, LOL.
Clothes-wise, who cares what she wears as she travels casually around in the summer heat. Does the author ever comment on that proclaimed fashion leader of the world, Michelle Obama?
Leni
Is this the same MSDNC that doesn’t pay taxes?
Like “running for President.”
That is obviously what the picture is about.
Only a dumb homo could turn that into an attire critique.
Wouldn’t that say more about him and how he sees attreactive women than it would about what Sarah wears? I mean really it’s a shirt?
She looks good in those Carhartts.
Fact is, she looks good in darn near anything!
Oh yeah, we should elect our POTUS based on the crease in his pants since it worked so well in 2008.
/s
"Too hot for homos..."
OTOH, airbrushed abs, enhanced nether regions, lightened skin color, and magical red/black shorts don't make for a well dressed POTUS and I'm not even going to comment on the FLOTUS's sag.
Thank you!
What does the author have to say about XXL pantsuits in ice cream colors?
Didn’t Teddy Roosevelt shoot mooses, too.
Bully for Sarah!!!
They have no idea what kind of woman they are messing with, do they?
That there is old-guy porn.
TR defined the meaning of American for several generations. Sarah embodies the renewal of that Spirit for the treacherous straits we are traversing today and a promise for generations unborn.
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