Sam and Lauren are both good examples of "youth, charisma, and online presence." 🎉🎉 Ossoff, Frey, AOC, Sarah Elizabeth McBride, Jasmine Crockett, several local legislative women one after another, Governor Josh Shapiro, my Governor Wes Moore, my Senator Angela Alsobrooks, my Beloved Kamala Harris, my other Senator Chris Van Hollen, Ilhan Omar, Pete Buttigieg, Mayor Mamdani, Ayanna Pressley, and definitely Gavin Newsom. I love Bernie Sanders for his youth and charisma; he has both. I love Bill Kristol for his youth and charisma; he has both. The more progressive, the more charismatic. The more articulate, the more charismatic. The more National Healthcare, the more charismatic. The less war, the more charismatic. The more Bulwark, the more charismatic. 🎇✨🎇✨🎉 (There's a lot of beautiful people!)
This really isn't new, but for all the reasons discussed ad nauseum, it's long been mumbled into shirtsleeves. It can also be fraught with clouded-judgment peril, to wit, two words: John. Edwards.
Back when yrs truly was a youthful single-A league operative, the big race was the primary contest for the Senate seat from NC. The establishment candidate was the moderately progressive DG Martin, a respected veteran with impeccable credentials and ethical record. Really a stand-up guy with an understated charisma. The upstart was a personal injury attorney with a somewhat more populist-lefty bent, and a smile like a Steinway keyboard. From jump, I thought something was off, confirmed by my father, an old socialist, who dubbed him 'Smilin' John': "I wouldn't trust that man as far as I could throw him". Didn't give it much thought until hearing from some of my pals--far more experienced campaigners, who were smitten: "He looks soooo good on teevee!...He's just gorgeous!!", they squealed. Mind you, again, these were grizzled operatives with years of hardscrabble trench campaigning under their belts who allegedly did not suffer fools gladly.
"I dunno, guys..." was the best I could muster.
Years later, the conversation starts with "Don't say it..."
Addendum: for the record I've been impressed by Ossof, lately--by a deliberate, precise intensity, unique in the potential field--on display grilling Noem.
Shocked! I'm completely shocked to learn that physical attractiveness is correlated to popularity!! Whoever heard of such a thing???? What shocking fact will you tell me next? That it is better to be rich than poor? Wearing seatbelts save lives? Water is wet?
Jon Ossoff is so darn gorgeous. Thank Gawd he is one of ours and a good guy, so I don't have to feel guilty about my crush. And Wes Moore?? Be still my heart.
But alas, Kamala Harris was arguably the prettiest person ever to run for president and look where that got us. So, maybe we just take all this with a few grains. . .
I'm surprised you didn't mention Mamdani. He got something like 80% of the female vote. What Mamdani has in addition to good genes and nice clothes is charisma and youthful energy. I think that's really what people are looking for.
It alarms me that apparently people think we still can't say that AOC is pretty without being cancelled. Our party has got to get its cultural head out of its butt.
He also had actual ideas for people to vote for that were different than the usual "I'm for the middle class families" that candidates speak in the weaselly way that lets you know they're hoping to put in their time on the Hill and land a good lobbying job on the way out.
Thank you for this article! I had assumed the Dems had been grooming a tall, handsome, youngish, Obama-esque candidate while Biden was in office. But, nope! We ran a woman against Trump again. We are way more misogynistic than many of our allies, and I love Harris, but that was the stupidest thing we could have done. We are also a materialistic country. We prefer looks and popularity over policy debates. The presidential election is a popularity contest. It's that simple, and if we want to win ever again, we need to treat it as such. Dems need to recognize that a woman will not win in this Me Too backlash, toxic masculinity era. We wouldn't get independents and even some male Dems with a woman. We also can't afford to nominate a short, old, or unattractive man. We need to finally play to win, if it's not already too late. That might mean not voting for our personal, ideal candidate in the primaries in order to save our country.
You could just as easily rewrite this article with a bunch of quotes how democrats need a “say it like it is” fighter who will get down and dirty and fight against the republicans. That’s what I want, I could care less about looks. This type of article is just a bunch of quotes strung together asserting that everyone else feels the same way. We do not. In fact I think Newsome’s good looks work against him, he can come off too slick and too “California”. And Jack Schlossberg comes off as a one trick pony, the trick being his “Kennedy good looks”. Not to mention the counterfactual that we’ve been ruled by geriatric presidents since 2017 and 50%+ of congress is 60yo+ so clearly we are not falling all over ourselves voting for the thirst trap candidate.
We have got to stop being so damned politically correct. Egan is right: hotness matters. I once had a conversation with someone years ago who said she couldn't vote for Dukakis because he had narrow shoulders. I asked if she would vote for Arnold Schwartzenegger for president (he wasn't even in politics yet). Without missing a beat, she said 'yes'. Though it's not ONLY about stereotypical gendered appearance. If a candidate is seen supremelly confident, looks strong and has swagger, that contributes to their 'hotness'.
Actually, as Pence pointed out, Trump appears to have wide shoulders. He also had what looks like confidence which is sexy. I think the problem we have seeing it is that he's overweight, unfit, and ugly in all the interior attributes.
I don’t think I agree with this. Hotness may be a topic of conversation but voters sure seem to have a thing for grandpas when you consider the successful candidates of the last decade or so. And the Dems better be careful playing up sex appeal in an era where sexual aberration and misconduct is so widely condemned.
This article makes ZERO sense. Here's why: If being "hot" is such an important way to get elected, how are Republicans in power?? Is trump hot?? (ugh) Are other Republican politicians hot?? It really makes no sense whatsoever. Why is this entire article about how Democrats have to be "hot," yet Republicans are not hot and there's no mention of that in the article. This is yet another example of Democrats being held to a higher standard than Republicans. (Just like Harris was held to a higher standard than trump, in so many ways.)
I completely forgot about Obama girl! Lots of oohing and ahhhing over Ossoff. Democrats would benefit from a charismatic candidate, even if this person isn’t universally considered hot.
This totally makes sense. Someone being a fighter is attractive to the public right now. Attraction is a huge part of it. Why do you think Trump does so many fake memes of himself with muscles? He’s clearly as unattractive as they come. We really need to get naked pictures of him out there.
Neil Postman warned about the fusion of Entertainment and Politics in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" published in the mid-'80s. This kind of casting arguably started with Kennedy and accelerated with Reagan.
Put The Don in a speedo next to any Demopublican candidate-got to make the choice easy for the notoriously fickle american electorate. There is no hope.
Sam and Lauren are both good examples of "youth, charisma, and online presence." 🎉🎉 Ossoff, Frey, AOC, Sarah Elizabeth McBride, Jasmine Crockett, several local legislative women one after another, Governor Josh Shapiro, my Governor Wes Moore, my Senator Angela Alsobrooks, my Beloved Kamala Harris, my other Senator Chris Van Hollen, Ilhan Omar, Pete Buttigieg, Mayor Mamdani, Ayanna Pressley, and definitely Gavin Newsom. I love Bernie Sanders for his youth and charisma; he has both. I love Bill Kristol for his youth and charisma; he has both. The more progressive, the more charismatic. The more articulate, the more charismatic. The more National Healthcare, the more charismatic. The less war, the more charismatic. The more Bulwark, the more charismatic. 🎇✨🎇✨🎉 (There's a lot of beautiful people!)
This really isn't new, but for all the reasons discussed ad nauseum, it's long been mumbled into shirtsleeves. It can also be fraught with clouded-judgment peril, to wit, two words: John. Edwards.
Back when yrs truly was a youthful single-A league operative, the big race was the primary contest for the Senate seat from NC. The establishment candidate was the moderately progressive DG Martin, a respected veteran with impeccable credentials and ethical record. Really a stand-up guy with an understated charisma. The upstart was a personal injury attorney with a somewhat more populist-lefty bent, and a smile like a Steinway keyboard. From jump, I thought something was off, confirmed by my father, an old socialist, who dubbed him 'Smilin' John': "I wouldn't trust that man as far as I could throw him". Didn't give it much thought until hearing from some of my pals--far more experienced campaigners, who were smitten: "He looks soooo good on teevee!...He's just gorgeous!!", they squealed. Mind you, again, these were grizzled operatives with years of hardscrabble trench campaigning under their belts who allegedly did not suffer fools gladly.
"I dunno, guys..." was the best I could muster.
Years later, the conversation starts with "Don't say it..."
Addendum: for the record I've been impressed by Ossof, lately--by a deliberate, precise intensity, unique in the potential field--on display grilling Noem.
Shocked! I'm completely shocked to learn that physical attractiveness is correlated to popularity!! Whoever heard of such a thing???? What shocking fact will you tell me next? That it is better to be rich than poor? Wearing seatbelts save lives? Water is wet?
Jon Ossoff is so darn gorgeous. Thank Gawd he is one of ours and a good guy, so I don't have to feel guilty about my crush. And Wes Moore?? Be still my heart.
But alas, Kamala Harris was arguably the prettiest person ever to run for president and look where that got us. So, maybe we just take all this with a few grains. . .
I'm surprised you didn't mention Mamdani. He got something like 80% of the female vote. What Mamdani has in addition to good genes and nice clothes is charisma and youthful energy. I think that's really what people are looking for.
It alarms me that apparently people think we still can't say that AOC is pretty without being cancelled. Our party has got to get its cultural head out of its butt.
He also had actual ideas for people to vote for that were different than the usual "I'm for the middle class families" that candidates speak in the weaselly way that lets you know they're hoping to put in their time on the Hill and land a good lobbying job on the way out.
Thank you for this article! I had assumed the Dems had been grooming a tall, handsome, youngish, Obama-esque candidate while Biden was in office. But, nope! We ran a woman against Trump again. We are way more misogynistic than many of our allies, and I love Harris, but that was the stupidest thing we could have done. We are also a materialistic country. We prefer looks and popularity over policy debates. The presidential election is a popularity contest. It's that simple, and if we want to win ever again, we need to treat it as such. Dems need to recognize that a woman will not win in this Me Too backlash, toxic masculinity era. We wouldn't get independents and even some male Dems with a woman. We also can't afford to nominate a short, old, or unattractive man. We need to finally play to win, if it's not already too late. That might mean not voting for our personal, ideal candidate in the primaries in order to save our country.
You could just as easily rewrite this article with a bunch of quotes how democrats need a “say it like it is” fighter who will get down and dirty and fight against the republicans. That’s what I want, I could care less about looks. This type of article is just a bunch of quotes strung together asserting that everyone else feels the same way. We do not. In fact I think Newsome’s good looks work against him, he can come off too slick and too “California”. And Jack Schlossberg comes off as a one trick pony, the trick being his “Kennedy good looks”. Not to mention the counterfactual that we’ve been ruled by geriatric presidents since 2017 and 50%+ of congress is 60yo+ so clearly we are not falling all over ourselves voting for the thirst trap candidate.
We have got to stop being so damned politically correct. Egan is right: hotness matters. I once had a conversation with someone years ago who said she couldn't vote for Dukakis because he had narrow shoulders. I asked if she would vote for Arnold Schwartzenegger for president (he wasn't even in politics yet). Without missing a beat, she said 'yes'. Though it's not ONLY about stereotypical gendered appearance. If a candidate is seen supremelly confident, looks strong and has swagger, that contributes to their 'hotness'.
Actually, as Pence pointed out, Trump appears to have wide shoulders. He also had what looks like confidence which is sexy. I think the problem we have seeing it is that he's overweight, unfit, and ugly in all the interior attributes.
Please do not put the words "Trump" and "sexy" so close together. I just had lunch.
Ridiculous, indeed. America -- get! a! grip!!!!!
I don’t think I agree with this. Hotness may be a topic of conversation but voters sure seem to have a thing for grandpas when you consider the successful candidates of the last decade or so. And the Dems better be careful playing up sex appeal in an era where sexual aberration and misconduct is so widely condemned.
This article makes ZERO sense. Here's why: If being "hot" is such an important way to get elected, how are Republicans in power?? Is trump hot?? (ugh) Are other Republican politicians hot?? It really makes no sense whatsoever. Why is this entire article about how Democrats have to be "hot," yet Republicans are not hot and there's no mention of that in the article. This is yet another example of Democrats being held to a higher standard than Republicans. (Just like Harris was held to a higher standard than trump, in so many ways.)
I completely forgot about Obama girl! Lots of oohing and ahhhing over Ossoff. Democrats would benefit from a charismatic candidate, even if this person isn’t universally considered hot.
This totally makes sense. Someone being a fighter is attractive to the public right now. Attraction is a huge part of it. Why do you think Trump does so many fake memes of himself with muscles? He’s clearly as unattractive as they come. We really need to get naked pictures of him out there.
Dear Gawd No! No naked pictures of Trump! You'll frighten the children. And I might inadvertently see one and my heart can only take so much.
😂🤣
Neil Postman warned about the fusion of Entertainment and Politics in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" published in the mid-'80s. This kind of casting arguably started with Kennedy and accelerated with Reagan.
Put The Don in a speedo next to any Demopublican candidate-got to make the choice easy for the notoriously fickle american electorate. There is no hope.
See you on 28 March if we last that long.
You domment requires a trigger warning! "The Don in a speedo . . . ." I just tasted a little vomit.
Here's a Constitutional Amendment. All Elections from here on out follow The Dating Game rules.