Let It Snow
Why are people questioning the abilities of Tony Snow, the newly tapped White House press secretary? Is it because he is coming from FOX News? What if George tapped Jon Stewart (not that he would say yes, or would he?)? Would Stewart get flack for being a not-smart-enough TV personality with good hair? Wasn’t the good hair shtick part of Kerry/Edwards campaign? Kerry said, “We've got better vision. We've got better ideas. We've got real plans. We've got a better sense of what's happening to America, and we've got better hair.” I guess that wasn’t enough for him.
Politicians. I dislike them all, equally. But newscasters…I do have my favorites. I’ve often watched Tony Snow’s “Weekend Live” and found it to be a bit dry. I prefer Bill O’Reilly, but that is a different type of show entirely. I like O’Reilly’s sass even though I do not agree with him on most occasions, but I do enjoy how riled up he gets. I like Monica Crowley and Anderson Cooper—both great looking and also seem very genuine in person.
But Snow, not just a newscaster with locks to love, is a noted political analyst who broke away from TV news in 1991 when he worked as deputy assistant to then President George H. W. Bush. He was the director of speechwriting and also worked on media affairs for the elder Bush.
Ronald Reagan was an actor before he was a politician and perhaps it was his screen abilities that enabled him to be called the “Great Communicator”. He had a good approval rating by the public when in office, the economy was great, and he always shared his optimism. Sure there were flaws in his leadership, there always are, for everyone. Flaws don’t take sides; they are bipartisan. Unless, of course, that flaw is of the head variety.
None of the aforementioned have/had bad hair. Not even gray hair stopped their likeability. Snow has even criticized the President calling him something of an embarrassment late last year. But he was still chosen as press secretary. Maybe it is all about giving good head. Perhaps Bill Clinton illustrated that best.
Politicians. I dislike them all, equally. But newscasters…I do have my favorites. I’ve often watched Tony Snow’s “Weekend Live” and found it to be a bit dry. I prefer Bill O’Reilly, but that is a different type of show entirely. I like O’Reilly’s sass even though I do not agree with him on most occasions, but I do enjoy how riled up he gets. I like Monica Crowley and Anderson Cooper—both great looking and also seem very genuine in person.
But Snow, not just a newscaster with locks to love, is a noted political analyst who broke away from TV news in 1991 when he worked as deputy assistant to then President George H. W. Bush. He was the director of speechwriting and also worked on media affairs for the elder Bush.
Ronald Reagan was an actor before he was a politician and perhaps it was his screen abilities that enabled him to be called the “Great Communicator”. He had a good approval rating by the public when in office, the economy was great, and he always shared his optimism. Sure there were flaws in his leadership, there always are, for everyone. Flaws don’t take sides; they are bipartisan. Unless, of course, that flaw is of the head variety.
None of the aforementioned have/had bad hair. Not even gray hair stopped their likeability. Snow has even criticized the President calling him something of an embarrassment late last year. But he was still chosen as press secretary. Maybe it is all about giving good head. Perhaps Bill Clinton illustrated that best.
posted by Michele at 8:32 AM
4 Comments:
But isn't Dana's story saying that Snow is qualified because of his hair? It seems to me like her piece is more about how the role of a press secretary has changed, and the briefings have taken on a narrative, soap opera-like quality of their own... And Dee Dee Meyers, Clinton press secretary, is quoted as saying that she thinks Snow has great qulaifications.
Yes, but I think it's funny how they are saying that because of his hair. Even though they are saying he is qualified, they lend the qualification more toward his hair. No doubt the world would much prefer to hear news from an attractive person, and the truth is that good-looking people are remembered more and their words tend to carry more weight (I read this in a study).
The hair part took me back to the Kerry campaigning days, and I laughed then, just as I laugh now that someone's hair is brought into the political arena.
This must be why I listen to you.
It's probably also why I was on CNN once and my boss called during a commercial break to tell the publicist to tell me to brush my hair.
Hilarious! Once my PR ladies told me that I should cut my hair since it looked too unruly on television. One of them even told me that when I was on a morning show talking about sex and showed my tattoos, it looked like my arm had a disease. Guess we'll never be press secretaries.
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