December 7, 2009

Another Drudge juxtaposition.



Unfair! Too cruel!

ADDED: Remember back in 2007, when Rush Limbaugh asked if the nation was ready to watch a woman age the way a President ages in office? From the archive (members-only link):
We are a culture that is obsessed with looking good and perfection because it's seen, we see, that those are the people having a good time. Those are the people that have fame. Those are the people that have wealth. Those are the people that seem to have success.  So, people out there trying to emulate it, and I saw this picture on Drudge yesterday of Mrs. Clinton taken in New Hampshire. It's not a very flattering picture...
Ha. It was Drudge back then.
I think Pamela Anderson would have a better shot at getting elected president of this country [than Margaret Thatcher]....
I challenge Limbaugh to substitute "Sarah Palin" for "Pamela Anderson" in your old riff about America's obsession with good looks and see where that takes you.

57 comments:

Salamandyr said...

It might have been accidental (I'm not betting that way), but it's really not fair to compare the grandmother aged Hillary to the much younger (yet actually a grandmother) Sarah Palin. Twenty years ago, Hillary Clinton was a nice looking lady, and in 20 years, Mrs. Palin won't look as good as she does now.

I must say that hat is very flattering.

Maizin Clement's Copy Editing said...

Palin has great facial bones, so she'll look good no matter how old she is.

Nevertheless, the juxtaposition of those pix is unfortunate for Hillary. Salamandyr is quite right though: Hillary is older than Palin. Moreover, she lacks the facial structure that Palin has which will ensure continued beauty as she ages.

Photog714 said...

I agree: Unfair that Palin is mercilessly cast as a rube by MSM. Too cruel that we must look at that hag Hillary as our secretary of state.

Bissage said...

If we are limited to consideration of the photos, then I’d choose the one on the left for a statesman and the one on the right for a girlfriend.

But I don’t see the unfairness or cruelty. Isn’t that the way they’re selling themselves?

Wince said...

Tag: "Obama is like Sarah Palin"?

Are you suggesting that the mainstream media highlighted Obama's physical attractiveness against his opponenent in a way that Drudge juxtaposes Palin to Clinton?

Sending "very powerful sexual signals"?

MnMark said...

I have to agree with Bissage that the hot chick in the go-go hat doesn't look like a potential president to me. Is that how someone who wants to be taken seriously dresses?

bearbee said...

Different travel focus. Different stress levels.
Palin enjoying.
Hillary not?
Palin promoting book, meeting fans, signing autographs.
Hillary meeting/negotiating with foreign politicos and having to accept a lot of bs, pander and placate.

Synova said...

That's a terrible picture of Hillary. I never thought she was attractive at all, but for a while she was looking pretty good. I figured it was having truly expert hair stylists and wardrobe advice. She is a whole lot older than Palin is, though. And what she really looks is *tired*. Frankly, I give her props for not getting her face pulled up and stapled.

And no... Palin doesn't look statesmanlike in that photo, however, she does look sharp and the alternative is to look dowdy on purpose or be seen to be trying to look stuffy. To be seen to be *trying* is a bad thing in a number of ways that she's right to avoid. We all know she can wear a suit and put her hair up.

Lincolntf said...

Heh. Just had this conversation with a female semi-Liberal friend. She believes strongly that women have a natural aversion to other women who are more attractive than they are. She says this means that Palin will always have a large chunk of voters who will never support her, no matter what.
Sounded a bit strange to me, but what do I know?

Anonymous said...

Barack borrowed Fidel's policies. Sarah borrowed his hat.

Synova said...

"Barack borrowed Fidel's policies. Sarah borrowed his hat."

LOL!

Amexpat said...

... women have a natural aversion to other women who are more attractive than they are... this means that Palin will always have a large chunk of voters who will never support her, no matter what.

There may be something to this. Thatcher and Merkel are not babes. Golda Meir and Indira Gandhi were homely. The only exceptions I can think of are the Ukrainian PM, who is very attractive and B. Bhutto who was attractive.

Beth said...

I don't think anyone wearing that hat can complain about being called Caribou Barbie. That is one silly hat.

Makes me think of Mary Tyler Moore.

Mr. Graaaaaant!

Jason said...

Let's take a closer look at those breasts.

Synova said...

I don't think that Palin has complained of being called Caribou Barbie, has she?

I get the impression she thinks it's a hoot.

traditionalguy said...

Maureen Dowd says the life force inside Palin shows in her persona while the ObamaMan seems to her to be emotionally dead. This same problem afflicts Hillary and all of the Alinskyites going to and fro telling us lies in hopes that Americans chase impossible ideals and self destruck. Palin looks beautiful because she believes what she is saying. Hillary hasn't been able say very much except deceptions of the day to the point that she is dead inside.

jayne_cobb said...

My favorite Drudge joke is when he had a picture of Bill Clinton immediately above stories on strippers and impotence.

vbspurs said...

Salamandyr wrote:

Twenty years ago, Hillary Clinton was a nice looking lady, and in 20 years, Mrs. Palin won't look as good as she does now.

Twenty years ago, maybe. But not 40 years ago, she she was really young.

Curiously, though, both women were at their peak when they hit 40, which my mother says were her best years too (and she's truly gorgeous). I blogged about First Ladies' looks in "Laura Bush's Disco Pants" -- and noted that in the Vogue shoot, they made Hillary Clinton look like First Lady Anna Sharapova. Hubbahubba.

Yet neither Palin nor Clinton were as dishy as Frances Cleveland, the perfect Gibson Girl.

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

Grapp wrote:

Palin has great facial bones, so she'll look good no matter how old she is.

I'm convinced that Palin MUST have substantial Native American blood. There is no other explanation for those high cheekbones, that dark hair-colouring, and that natural olive skin undertone which no Governor's Mansion tanning bed can truly give.

I pointed it out in my first blogpost on the topic, which was later echoed by Camille Paglia in one of her magnificently perceptive Palin articles.

Cheers,
Victoria

Chef Mojo said...

Here's a photo that provides a bit of context for Palin. The pic in question was taken at a book signing in Northern Virginia in the middle of a snow storm.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/03ML4n9biHgPS?q=sarah+palin

I think she looks great. Happy, relaxed and fit. Glad to be doing what she's doing.

Hilary, on the other hand, is morphing into burger & donuts era Bill Clinton. She looks miserable and bloated.

I know who I'd want of the two presenting an image of the USA...

vbspurs said...

She says this means that Palin will always have a large chunk of voters who will never support her, no matter what.

Is it because I'm not wired that way or because I'm still young(ish)or immodestly, because I don't feel I look badly -- I simply do not "get" this mindset, although I agree this is commonly received wisdom about women.

Similarly, it is said that when Oprah lost weight, she lost a lot of viewers.

It seems her female vieweres are comfortable with a fat, dowdy woman if she is a billionaire because it doesn't make them feel like she's got ALL that and a good body too.

smartsy said...

If I were Hillary, I would stop using my millions to find the most flattering color matched pant suits and start working on what's underneath. A jowl lift is the first place to start. It would take a good 10 years off of the scowl she wears.

Then again, I'm not so sure that a lift would remove the scowl.

Just sayin.

Scott said...

I am not sure why, but to me, that picture of Palin evokes memories of Barbara Streisand.

People... people who need people...

vbspurs said...

I think she looks great. Happy, relaxed and fit. Glad to be doing what she's doing.

What an incredible photo, ChefMojo! Look at those peep-toe "Letizias".

So named for the Frankensteinian platform shoes favoured by the future Queen of Spain.

garage mahal said...

Nice high cheekbones.....I know that's what I'm looking for in someone in charge of our nuclear codes. That, and the numerous use of the words "awesome", and "bogus".

Lincolntf said...

"I simply do not "get" this mindset, although I agree this is commonly received wisdom about women."

Yeah, it's kind of strange. The crux of our discussion was whether Palin's pulchritude would lure more men than it turns off women? I really have no way to answer that, but I know that hot Hollywood actresses have been pushing their views at me for years and their beauty never made me consider becoming a PETA-member. Not sure how the "attractiveness" factor will effect her future, but I bet the Dems are scrambling to find a non-dog to represent their Party.

traditionalguy said...

Garage...High cheek bones are just as ugly as low cheek bones without a leaders confident way of smiling and encouraging the group. Palin has a leader's persona. The leader determines the attitude of a group and that makes the group successful or a failure. The nuclear codes will be OK, since Todd can duck Tape them to prevent errors caused by confused disciples of the Harvard Ideology.

Beau said...

One has 'actual responsibilities', the other doesn't.

Andrea said...

I don't get the whole "she's prettier than me, I hate her!" mindset either. Maybe it was because I grew up in the Seventies, when almost everyone was ugly, and dressed hideously. Beauty, when it appeared, was considered a wonderful accident -- to be covered up as much as possibly with Earth shoes, plaid bellbottoms, and poo-colored fringe jackets. I used to look in fashion magazines and think "thank God I don't look like that."

Synova said...

"It seems [Oprah's] female vieweres are comfortable with a fat, dowdy woman if she is a billionaire because it doesn't make them feel like she's got ALL that and a good body too."

Or else her viewers liked her fat because they could feel like they could be successful as well, even if they weren't, they *could* be.

I will admit that what I find intimidating in other women is if they are tall. But tall only counts in real life where I might have to stand next to them. Being really good looking doesn't intimidate me at all... at least not by itself. There is also a certain level of attention to appearance that makes me feel uncomfortable, a degree of dressing-up in ordinary circumstances that I can't help but think that she (whoever she is) probably values that and *notices* when other people don't have every hair in place, are fully "made up", and wearing an "outfit" instead of normal clothing.

I recognize those things, though, and do my best not to let it prejudice me against tall women or fastidious dressers. ;-)

vbspurs said...

Not sure how the "attractiveness" factor will effect her future, but I bet the Dems are scrambling to find a non-dog to represent their Party.

Lincolntf, we can find an exact correlation between Ségolène Royal, the leftist French candidate for President in the past election, and Governor Sarah Palin. BOTH are extremely attractive women.

Both were lampooned or sexualised for their looks.

This French comic made a genius parody of "Sego", and though it's in French, you just have to check out how she portrays her as being overtly sexy. [1:21 & 2:10]

The cover on Time about Royal says it all about bias, though. Strong attractive but she thinks like us, so she's not fair game.

I do have to say that if Palin ever dressed with the near mini-skirts favoured by Royal or went bathing in a bikini showing off her tremendous 40+ bod, you'd never heard the end of it from lefties.

(Check out the baseball cap)

Shanna said...

If it snows, hats are appropriate. I'm not sure I would have chosen that one personally, but I don't think it's any worse, projection wise, than other hats. Would it really have been better if she wore one with a cute fuzz ball on top, or furry ear flaps?

Love the outfit...and the shoes.

As for Hillary, well, that wasn't the best picture.

MadisonMan said...

Why should Hillary get a jowl lift? That's ridiculous! She is a very normal-looking person for someone in her (early) 60s. Some might find her attractive, some might not.

Paul said...

"Nice high cheekbones.....I know that's what I'm looking for in someone in charge of our nuclear codes. That, and the numerous use of the words "awesome", and "bogus"."

I hear ya.

For me it's more fitting that a President:

Was born and bred by communists.

Had a communist/pedophile as a mentor as a teenager.

Elected to hang out with radicals, marxists, and structural feminists in college.

Went to the Church of God Damn America for twenty years.

Is friends with domestic terrorists who ghostwrite his book which is dedicated to Reverend God Damn America.

Works hard to destroy our economy with unprecedented reckless spending and a strong anti business agenda, socialized medicine, and a tax on carbon.

Runs down America and apologizes for it's actions when visiting overseas.

That's for openers. I'm sure there will be other sterling qualifications that come to mind.

Now if we could just find a candidate like THAT!

Paddy O said...

"evokes memories of Barbra Streisand"

Scott, that picture didn't evoke such memories for me, but once you mentioned it I immediately thought of Streisand in What's up Doc?

Synova said...

"Why should Hillary get a jowl lift? That's ridiculous!"

In my book she gets props for not doing it.

Kensington said...

Come on, Paul! This is America -- nobody like that could even get on a White House visitor's list, much less elected President.

And thank God for that!

As for Rush's comment, he might be right, but it's probably beside the point with regard to Palin.

Kensington said...

Wow, that French comic doing the "Sego" impersonation is really quite sexy.

I wonder if French lefties hate her as much as American rightwingers (like me) hate Tina Fey.

Unknown said...

Bissage said...

If we are limited to consideration of the photos, then I’d choose the one on the left for a statesman and the one on the right for a girlfriend.

What in the picture on the left says she's a stateswoman? She's quite the opposite and has been a disaster at State.

Lincolntf said...

Heh. Just had this conversation with a female semi-Liberal friend. She believes strongly that women have a natural aversion to other women who are more attractive than they are. She says this means that Palin will always have a large chunk of voters who will never support her, no matter what.

Your friend is dead on the money, Linc, at least, generally speaking, according to my Mom, who always said, "Women don't like other women as well as men like other men"; the theory being women are always competing with each other for any desirable men (think the Tiger mess). Whether that translates here may not prove the rule because there seems to be enough women who like Miss Sarah to vote for her for Governor and plenty who supported her for Veep.

vbspurs said...

Salamandyr wrote:

Twenty years ago, Hillary Clinton was a nice looking lady, and in 20 years, Mrs. Palin won't look as good as she does now.


Twenty years ago, maybe. But not 40 years ago, she she was really young.


Even seeing that picture, it's obvious Hillary had some work done early - at least on the overbite. The problem is, that kind of work always has an expiration date.

Hillary's bigger problem is that the picture Rush mentioned reflected the fact that Iowa wasn't the cakewalk it was supposed to be and Hilla was showing the strain that day.

I have to say I thought at the time the snide remarks, mostly from Obamatrons, were very cheap shots. Problem is that she was proving in the primaries, just as she did with HillaryHealth and as education czarina in AR, is that she has always been a lot better in theory than in practice. She would have done no better than The Zero as President.

smartsy said...

This is really about marketing 101. The physical image of your brand is very important when it comes to influencing people's decisions, and in this day and age, that includes politicians. Hillary doesn't need to look 40, but a jowl lift and some smoothing of the wrinkles would make her look more refreshed and less severe.

vbspurs said...

Kensington wrote:

Wow, that French comic doing the "Sego" impersonation is really quite sexy.

French women know how to be sexy. ;)

BTW, I'm glad you liked Florence Foresti, Kensington! Check out her Celine Dion impersonation, as well as Isabelle Adjani (the best).

I wonder if French lefties hate her as much as American rightwingers (like me) hate Tina Fey.

No, first because she's so affable in real life that her obvious talent doesn't go to her head; she's also not cerebral like Tina Fey. Her physicality is Foresti's greatest talent, and that puts her in the Lucille Ball/Imogene Coca category of female comics. Also, she parodies EVERYONE, and gives it to the Left and minorities as hard as rich blonde bimbos like Paris Hilton.

Having said that, did you notice the older blonde lady in the beginning of the Ségolène Royal clip? She is a very famous female French politician, a Socialist. She didn't at all seem happy with Foresti's take-down during presidential election year.

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

I'm with those who say that Hillary doesn't need to have a lift. Seriously, she's okay. I'd much rather have a woman like her, jowly and tired-looking, than that constant face of surprise by Botox Princess Pelosi.

Hillary is fine.

Cheers,
Victoria

Kensington said...

I agree that Hillary is fine, but I still don't want her anywhere near the White House ever again.

And thank you for those links, Victoria. I'll check them out when I have some more free time!

vbspurs said...

Sarah Palin was actually channelling Michael Jackson.

vbspurs said...

I used to look in fashion magazines and think "thank God I don't look like that."

The ironic thing, Andrea, is that Palin herself grew up thinking the same thing. I think when she won that Miss Wasilla contest (and came in second as Miss Alaska...a lucky escape for a politician!), it dawned on her that people thought she was a good-looking woman. She always took care of her body, being a jock, but her face changed from a doe-eyed Sally Fields to Cindy Crawford type, overnight.

Focko Smitherman said...

@Jayne_Cobb:

The "joke" Drudge headline I'll always remember is from back in 2005: "Cindy Sheehan arrested at White House in cunning stunt."

It was up for about five minutes.

vbspurs said...

John McCain just said he was "proud" of Palin, and that she earned a big place in American Republican politics.

BUT check out the spin already about this further comment:

"I'm proud of her. I am entertained every time I see these people attack her, and attack her and attack her. 'She's irrelevant!' -- but they continue to attack her."

Talking Points Memo uses an Edroso-like title of intellectual dishonesty:

McCain: Palin Is 'Irrelevant' -- But Will Be A Big Part Of GOP's Future

It just never stops with the Left. Never.

reader_iam said...

I do remember. And I remember being skeptical about that choice of photo, and its relation to reality, in part because I'd seen her earlier that year and found the difference too striking from what I'd seen in person and the (even amateur) snapshots I'd taken. For that reason, though I've no doubt she's aged in the intervening time (I sure Have), I see no reason not to think that this current photo may be every bit as misleading as the one in 2007 was.

Here's the link to the Dec. 17, 2007, Althouse post which contains a snapshot I took (the Drudge photo is no longer embedded--I assume due to archiving at his site; whatever).

[Just in case: No, I didn't manipulate the photo. No, I wasn't a big Hillary fan (I was at the event as part of a big, ongoing project to educate my young son about presidential campaigns). And Althouse cropped the photo only to remove my son and the faces of two other little kids from it, at my request.]

reader_iam said...

I see that the 2007 Drudge photo does still appear at the Immodest Proposals post to which Althouse linked in her Dec. 17, 2009, post--in case anyone wants to compare and contrast.

Jon said...

Palin favorable rating up 7 points in new CNN poll, she is now at 46/46.

Alex said...

Sarah Palin - the first Native American President!

Beau said...

It just never stops with the Left. Never.

No one is blameless in this game. Listened to a 'discussion' while driving yesterday where pundits from both sides cherry picked politician's statements on various issues distorting everything anyone said about anything. Turned it off and listened to Coast to Coast.

Apparently, George Herbert Bush is claiming he can't remember where he was the day JFK was assassinated!

Photog714 said...

MnMark said: I have to agree with Bissage that the hot chick in the go-go hat doesn't look like a potential president to me. Is that how someone who wants to be taken seriously dresses?

Yeah, like John Kerry with his balls bulging under a spandex bodysuit. Eeeewwwww! Seriously!

Photog714 said...

Vbspurs said: I'm with those who say that Hillary doesn't need to have a lift.

I agree. She needs a forklift.

vbspurs said...

Come on. Hillary's not that bad. Next to the other beauties on the Left, she's actually quite fetching. Helen Thomas. Bella Abzug. Madeleine Albright. Ay.

vbspurs said...

Although Hillary does need cankle plastic surgery.

vbspurs said...

Yeah, like John Kerry with his balls bulging under a spandex bodysuit. Eeeewwwww! Seriously!

I didn't notice the bulge, eww. I did notice his beta male little wave and general tentative and fake bonhomie, though.