Skin deep

The blogosphere is shocked (shocked!) that the Politico would obsess over petty crap like how much Mitt Romney would spend on makeup ($300).

After breaking the story that John Edwards pays non-trivial amounts of money for haircuts, and then beating that story 'til more people knew that fact than could correctly identify how much WMD Saddam Hussein possessed when we invaded (none), no depths of crap journalism are too low for the Politico.

Or, one supposes, Esquire magazine, whose editor was told "Showing Richard Nixon as a flaming queen is outrageous. If he becomes president Esquire had better watch out!" As it turned out, he was elected, and Esquire wasn't the only one who should have been watching out.

When the media's attention is only skin-deep, they do the public a genuine disservice. We face a catastrophic occupation, an economy in shambles, and a nation that is tearing itself apart. Surely the Politico thinks the election ought to be decided by matters more substantive than how much makeup Mitt Romney needs (not much: "He's already tan. We basically put a drop of foundation on him … and we powdered him a little bit.").

I'm too lazy to Photoshop Romney or any of the other candidates into that iconic cover. All of them wear makeup, and all of them hire barbers. I bet even Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich do.