It’s the Hillary effect again, this time on what it takes for a female candidate to run for president, including expenses a man doesn’t have to consider.
I’ve been following Michele Bachmann’s makeover, which was unveiled at one point in 2010 when Sarah Palin came to campaign for her in Minnesota. I did a piece on it at the time, because it was a signal Bachmann was gaming up for something.
But the Mother Jones piece by Andy Kroll has already made it to Minneapolis. Here’s one graph of Kroll’s story:
According to Bachmann’s latest campaign finance filings, her campaign spent nearly $4,700 on hair and makeup in the weeks after she entered the presidential race on June 13. Records show her campaign made three payments of $1,715, $250, and $2,704 to a Maryland-based stylist named Tamara Robertson. Robertson’s LinkedIn profile says she works as a makeup artist at Fox News in the DC area. She’s also listed in the “Make-up” section of the credits for the Citizens United-produced film A City Upon a Hill, hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich—a pair who’ve raised eyebrows with their own spending.
No journalistic outfit should send a man to do a piece on a female candidate’s salon expenses, because they haven’t a flippin’ clue what’s required to maintain an image for the public or the media, let alone all day long.
Remember Hillary? The wrinkle effect blasted by Drudge, then picked up by Rush Limbaugh? Remember Hillary’s fabulous hairstyle during the campaign, the highlights within highlights? She’s never looked better than when she was running for president, but it was a lot of effort, which she quickly dropped once she became Pres. Obama’s secretary of state.
Women have a much higher bar on looks and appearance than men do, including in politics. So, there are a couple of ways to handle the challenge. Proclaim it’s your money and you’ll spend it however you want. Bachmann could also find a more modest stylist, take the pictures of appearances to this person and then ask he or she to replicate them.
Tamara Robertson obviously is incredibly talented and has done a formidable job turning the latest Tea Party star into a sensational knock out. But Bachmann looks fantastic in the video here from 2010 either, when she made Sarah Palin look dowdy. Bachmann now has a beauty road map to follow, which can be done on a budget (I do it all the time), though it will never be cheap.
The days of dowdy Phyllis Schlafly conservatism are over.
Like it or not, Bachmann’s makeover has been important to her image and profile rise. Crazy doesn’t seem so unappealing when a good looking broad is selling it.
Take Rick Perry, who’s nothin’ without his hair.
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