Friday, May 4, 2007

Equal Time

It's only fair to take a look at Republican posture and see what that says. Here's the picture from the NY Times this morning:




My goodness, how different! I don't know if this was before or after the debate, or what the context was, but that's almost not worth considering because one of the questions is: what image does the media choose to present? And the image here of the 10 Republican candidates (I only recognized one, though I think I should be able to recognize two) is far more static and monolithic than the picture of the Democratic candidates. There is no one who stands out.

On the other hand, there's no one who looks like he's about to fall off the edge of the stage, or be pushed. Everyone looks like he belongs there. The even spacing, the easy stance. There's less anxiety and less gung-ho-iness. Being so evenly spaced, they don't look like they're clinging to one another for support. Standing with their hands at their sides, they don't look unsure of what to do with themselves.

But, man, are they monochromatic! Put them in a police line-up with patriotic bunting and see who can pick the eventual nominee out of the bunch! I think the Republican race is going to be far more interesting than the Democrats, sage pundit that I am.

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