Thursday, October 14, 2004
Spittle Watch
From Dan Froomkin's WH Briefing:
Distraction? I'll say. I already felt like ass yesterday; I was trying to eat something last night during the debate, and all I could focus on was that bit of nasty in the corner of Bush's mouth. I had to leave the room a couple of times to prevent my dinner from going the wrong direction.
I recall in the pre-debate 36 page memo, the Kerry campaign's request to have a frigid room was denied. The Bush campaign was sort of chortling over this development because, apparently, Kerry has a sweating problem, and women don't like to watch people sweat. (Single women are one of the swing demographics that both parties are fighting tooth and nail over. As a single woman, I'll have to say that I like being fought over. I should move to Ohio or Pennsylvania, and then it would really be awesome.) News flash for the Bush people: Single women also don't like men who embarrass them in public.
Sort of related: Is Karl Rove married? If he is not, how is he supposed to have a clue as to what single women want? Either way, I sort of think he's a closet case.
UPDATE: From an article from Noam Scheiber on TNR (I think you can read this one for free if you register. It's actually quite good):
I concur totally.
Jeff Zeleny and Rick Pearson write in the Chicago Tribune: "As Bush spoke, television screens showed a bubble of saliva on the right side of his mouth, which some Republican advisers feared was a distraction to viewers."
James Bennet writes in the New York Times that Bush's "smile was askew for about half the debate, marred by a glistening light dot at the right corner of his mouth. Viewers could be forgiven for losing track of his answers and imagining Laura Bush in the front row in frantic semaphore, wiping furiously at the corner of her own mouth."
Distraction? I'll say. I already felt like ass yesterday; I was trying to eat something last night during the debate, and all I could focus on was that bit of nasty in the corner of Bush's mouth. I had to leave the room a couple of times to prevent my dinner from going the wrong direction.
I recall in the pre-debate 36 page memo, the Kerry campaign's request to have a frigid room was denied. The Bush campaign was sort of chortling over this development because, apparently, Kerry has a sweating problem, and women don't like to watch people sweat. (Single women are one of the swing demographics that both parties are fighting tooth and nail over. As a single woman, I'll have to say that I like being fought over. I should move to Ohio or Pennsylvania, and then it would really be awesome.) News flash for the Bush people: Single women also don't like men who embarrass them in public.
Sort of related: Is Karl Rove married? If he is not, how is he supposed to have a clue as to what single women want? Either way, I sort of think he's a closet case.
UPDATE: From an article from Noam Scheiber on TNR (I think you can read this one for free if you register. It's actually quite good):
Another thing that never happened: Bush never wiped the spittle off of the right corner of his mouth. If it distracted me--I actually care about what the candidates are saying--I don't see how it didn't distract the rest of the country.
I concur totally.
