LAT: In '08 race, a little leg may go a long way: The commingling of sex and politics

[DeepModem Mom]

In '08 race, a little leg may go a long way
Sex, they say, sells. Aspiring presidential couples are bringing that notion to the fore (spontaneously or not). Do you approve? Vote here.
By Robin Abcarian, Times Staff Writer
August 5, 2007



In March, an aspiring Republican presidential couple — Rudolph W. and Judith Nathan Giuliani — appeared in a fashion layout in Harper's Bazaar that accompanied an interview with Mrs. Giuliani. The most striking thing about the feature, a coming-out of sorts for Judith Giuliani, was their pose. Sitting on the arm of her husband's chair, eyes closed, she tipped her head down, caressed his face and planted a kiss that looked like a precursor to something steamier. "Rudy's a very, very romantic guy," Judith Giuliani told the magazine. "We love watching 'Sleepless in Seattle.' Can you imagine my big testosteronefactor husband doing that?"

A couple of months later, after seeing a photograph of presumed presidential hopeful Fred Thompson's much younger wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, in a low-cut gown that would be modest on a Hollywood red carpet but could be shocking at a Washington social event, MSNBC talk show host Joe Scarborough quipped, "Do you think — think she works the pole?" (He had been discussing women who use stripper poles in their exercise routines.)

Not long after that, Cindy McCain, wife of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), gave Fox News talk show host Greta Van Susteren a tour of the couple's new Phoenix condo. Mrs. McCain wore a pink blouse with a plunging neckline, and heavy makeup that would not have been out of place at a black-tie event.

In this long, hot campaign season, intimations of sexuality are sprouting like wildflowers along the road to the White House. Not that the commingling of sex and politics is anything new, but for what seems to be the first time in memory, voters are being confronted with questions that don't usually break the surface: Just how sexy is a first lady allowed to be? And what constitutes an appropriate display of affection between candidates and their spouses?

With a nominating field full of older men and younger wives, experts say that a youthful, even sexy wife offers a none-too-subtle message about the vitality of the candidate.

Not since Al Gore's ostentatious lip lock with Tipper at the 2000 Democratic National Convention has sexuality-as-strategy raised its head in quite so insistent a fashion.

"What's going on reflects what's happening in the larger culture, a culture increasingly focused on young, attractive women and blatant sexuality, on display for all to appreciate," said Elizabeth Sherman, a political sociologist and Democrat who is married to former Republican Rep. Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma. "The candidate's wife is a strategic asset. How are you going to deploy that asset?"...

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-sex5aug05,0,1352499.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel

[saracat]

1. The assertion that the Clinton's beach 'dance' was a set up was

beautifully debunked by Hillarry when she pointed out that NO woman of a certain age would EVER deliberately allow a picture with the emphasis on her butt! And that is very true.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. You're right -- I'd forgotten her comeback on that. nt

[tigereye]

2. I think it's creepy and again uses these women almost as a commodity

of sorts.... :shrug:

[Warren DeMontague]

3. But wait! These chowderfucks have spent the last 7 years telling us the "values voter" is in charge.

You mean Americans -gasp!- like SEX?

Uh- okay, then, how about pointing out that a core piece of the GOP platform demands the criminalization of the birth control pill?

And Rudy's pro-choice. If the fucking "values voters" can't even keep a little party discipline in the GOP, how all-fucking-powerful can they actually be?

The answer? They're NOT. (And the DLC is committing a major error in exhorting our people to "court" this nearly non-existent constituency) The American People are far more socially libertarian than any of the conventional wisdom waterheads give them credit for. They are fundamentally pro-choice, pro-personal freedom, they want government out of their bedrooms, bodies and bloodstreams, they want to END the stupid drug war, and they want leaders who will PROTECT their civil liberties.

This noise about the "values voter" was always a cheap lie designed to cover up for deliberate voter disenfranchisement and election fraud and theft. Period.