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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/fashion/23tmi.html
Interesting piece on the waaaaay too much info we're getting from the candidates laterly and how they should control themselves.
Te thing is, I think they _are_ controlling themselves and that this is very calculated. When Giuliani's wife tells us about what a big mach testosterone guy Giuliani is, what she is doing is creating a soundbite to run counter to every time Fox News shows that clip of him performing in drag.
When Obama's wife talks about how he has morning breath and leaves his dirty socks around, she's making the man with the perfect suits and demeanor seem more like an "everyday guy."
The whole Edwards and his wife smoochathon thing is probably more complex, but the message sent is still "Edwards may get 400 haircuts but is still a very heterosexual man!" or possibly "he really really loves his wife and she won't die giving us all the trama of not just national grieving but a single president who we will have to worry about sinning!"
Even if these moments are utterly true and unplanned, and I think that's the case at least some of the time, none of the handlers are stopping them because they're so damn useful in an election that's about all sorts of really pointless credentials -- gender appropriateness, hetermosexuality and everydayness.
Calculation. Always calaculation.
Interesting piece on the waaaaay too much info we're getting from the candidates laterly and how they should control themselves.
Te thing is, I think they _are_ controlling themselves and that this is very calculated. When Giuliani's wife tells us about what a big mach testosterone guy Giuliani is, what she is doing is creating a soundbite to run counter to every time Fox News shows that clip of him performing in drag.
When Obama's wife talks about how he has morning breath and leaves his dirty socks around, she's making the man with the perfect suits and demeanor seem more like an "everyday guy."
The whole Edwards and his wife smoochathon thing is probably more complex, but the message sent is still "Edwards may get 400 haircuts but is still a very heterosexual man!" or possibly "he really really loves his wife and she won't die giving us all the trama of not just national grieving but a single president who we will have to worry about sinning!"
Even if these moments are utterly true and unplanned, and I think that's the case at least some of the time, none of the handlers are stopping them because they're so damn useful in an election that's about all sorts of really pointless credentials -- gender appropriateness, hetermosexuality and everydayness.
Calculation. Always calaculation.
