Last Year’s Sarah Palin Newsweek Cover Controversy? Not Sexy Enough!

by Tommy Christopher | 7:30 am, November 18th, 2009

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palin_newsweek_cover Sarah Palin is currently involved in a heated back-and-forth with Newsweek magazine (while Runner’s World ducks for cover) over their use of a sexy cover photo of her on their most recent issue. This whole thing sounded weirdly familiar to me. Newsweek magazine accused of sexist cover photo, headline calling her a problem? Sure enough, it looks like this is an annual event for Newsweek. There are a few key differences, though.

Way back in October of 2008, Newsweek took fire from Palin supporters for a cover photo that was not sexy enough. In a segment on Fox News, a Republican media consultant picked the extreme closeup apart, pointing out wrinkles, pores, and unwanted facial hair.

While Jezebel, among others, pointed out the falseness of the assertion that Obama magazine covers were retouched to make him look flawless, the title of the cover story was a dead giveaway: The Palin Problem. It doesn’t seem likely that they picked the photo for its artistic merit.

The biggest difference then, though, was that Palin herself wasn’t doing the complaining. The McCain campaign staff that she so thoroughly derides now apparently kept her from lashing out then, and wisely so. Getting worked up over a magazine cover, especially ones as relatively innocuous as these, doesn’t bespeak the toughness demanded of a leader.

Plus, Rachel Sklar has a point. When she posed for the sexy Runner’s World spread, she and the magazine had to know they were going to sell to a wider audience than just jogging enthusiasts. This doesn’t make Palin fair game, but it raises the bar for what she gets to call “sexist.”

As for Newsweek, their respective points might have been better served in each case by using less controversial cover photos, but would have arguably been seen by far fewer people. Maybe, in the future, they should stick with (real) pictures of Palin holding guns. Everyone seems to like those.

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9 comments

StewartIII says:

November 18, 2009 at 8:57 am

Michelle Malkin: The more offensive Newsweek photo of Sarah Palin
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/17/the-more-offensive-newsweek-photo-of-sarah-palin/

adammathewjones says:

November 18, 2009 at 9:02 am

To Melanie G, you are religious fanatic!! Do you even read what you are writing? … “Barrack is the one the Bible has been warning us about!! The end of the world as we know!” Are you crazy?!?! You have no rational reasoning behind what you are saying. I am not standing up for any particular politician here, but you need to do more research into what ALL politicians have done. They are all the same. I don’t know about you, but I think a man (McCain) who would commit adultery while his wife is dying of cancer and then marries the woman he had an affair with right after his wife dies is a pretty sinful man, don’t you think?

If Obama is elected, maybe it’s best for you to go hide out in your backyard bunker until the end of the world. See ya!

Rachel Sklar says:

November 18, 2009 at 9:13 am

Good one Tommy, I remember this brou-ha-ha last year well. Last year I went through all my Newsweek covers – which I receive every week from their PR person in ultra-hi-rez – and was able to discern unflattering elements in most cover headshots as a result (and let’s just say errant lady mustache hairs were not limited to the conservative side of the spectrum). Mental note: Never, ever be photographed in hi-rez. Anyway, I ran close-ups from a bunch of the covers, showing pores, sweat, errant hairs and liver spots – it’s here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/10/the-ridiculous-emnewsweek_n_133625.html. I still believe that showing ’stache hairs was far from necessary – who needs that much verisimilitude? – but it was not partisan. Making this a partisan issue is just silly – the evidence doesn’t support it.

Pat Doherty says:

November 18, 2009 at 10:21 am

While there’s certainly more important things to discuss, let’s provide some context. When this controversy erupted last year, the Atlantic had recently used a photographer to shoot John McCain who later admitted to doctoring the photos to make McCain look as bad as possible, simply because she was a Democrat. Coupled with the fact that Time, Newsweek, et. al. had a curious habit of photographing the then-junior Senator from Illinois in Messianic fashion (let alone the paucity of covers for McCain as opposed to Obama), this (in my opinion) unflattering photograph was a transparently partisan decision on behalf of Newsweek and a perfectly legitimate point of criticism for the conservative commentariat, if not the McCain campaign itself, to make.

shootfromthehip says:

November 18, 2009 at 11:26 am

yawn. who cares? Palin looks fine on the cover of Newsweek. Stupid cons will cry conspiracy any time for any reason.

Chuck Varrick says:

November 18, 2009 at 11:55 am

Liberal zombies only have Claire McCaskill, Debbie Stabenow, Hillary Clinton, Babs Boxer and Nancy Pelosi to speak of as far as looks, fashion and physical appearance are concerned. Republicans have Sarah Palin. Compare and contrast obese democrats with Sarah and then tell me who is more presentable to the eye. Where is the public outrage that our health care costs are increasing so much because of obese democrats like the above. Then throw in some male liberal zombies who are obese like Michael Moore and you’ll find health care costs are increasing so much, so fast because they’d rather to sit down at a computer keyboard bashing Palin while stuffing their mouths with oodles of Dunkin Donuts. Go figure. At least Palin can run. So can those women I mentioned above but only to the fridge and back to their chairs to pound away some more.

felixw says:

November 18, 2009 at 4:40 pm

Shoot from the hip writes “Stupid cons will cry conspiracy any time for any reason.”

Get real. AP has assigned 11 reporters to fact-check Sarah Palin’s book. The last time they put so many reporters on one assignment, was when the whole staff got down to lick Obama’s boots.

Nachi says:

November 18, 2009 at 5:09 pm

Hard to imagine the word “sexy” being applied to Palin. Sort of a masculine Tanya Harding. But then, the Wingnut taste has always been non-existent.

Sunnyr says:

November 19, 2009 at 11:42 pm

If the ignorant commies in the Lame Stream Media would devote 11 reporters to investigate ACORN, the CORRUPT SEIU THUGS who use the White House like a revolving door, and the assorted Mao-Loving Dingbats, Marxists, Radical Communists and other assorted fruits and nuts in Obama’s world, they would uncover a vipers nest of criminal institutions, corruption, fraud, etc. But, NO. They have to waste their time “fact checking” a 400 page book by a conservative woman. These IDIOTS are a blight on our nation and are just as corrupt as their Dear Leader! A pox on all their houses.

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