Wednesday, January 14, 2004Ars photographica. You had to wonder that, with all the campaign activity going on in Iowa, this was the best pic NYT could come up with for the front page, and without even a real news peg to hang it on (story):
Here a Caucus, There a Caucus.
In the days before the Iowa caucuses on Monday, the door-to-door competition is heating up. In Des Moines, Dean supporters in orange caps met Gephardt backers in union jackets in an apartment building. (NYT caption)
I mean, a colorless narrow hallway and four people in nondescript winterwear with their backs to the camera. Let's see, what's the ugliest and least compelling image we've got available?
But it looks like there's method to this, after all, though you have to go to Sunday's Meet the Press to find it. Here's Dean Broder and Tim Russert gasbagging their way (with help from the peanut gallery) through a couple of the creepy stereotypes that they mistake for thought (thanks to Dynamist for the link):
MR. BRODER: I saw the same kind of contrast when I was out there earlier this week. Gephardt gave a pep talk to about 175 union business agents and staff people who'd come in from around the country. I'd say it was about 98 percent male and the median size of these guys, about 6'3", 250 pounds. Then I went over to...
MR. RUSSERT: My kind of guy.
MR. BRODER: Then I went over to the Dean headquarters, they’re young, they’re female, they’re gay, and they’re small. And I thought to myself, I hope those Gephardt guys don’t run into the Dean people. You know it would be a bad scene.
MR. TODD: You know, it’ll be interesting at the caucuses, on caucus night, if there is some physical intimidation, or not, I mean...
MR. RUSSERT: Punch everybody out.
MR. TODD: Yeah.
(Trust Pumpkinhead Russert to get his macho on with this wholly, er, factesque idea of working-class violence.)
See? Dorky orange-capped Deanie babies, beefy union-jacketed Gephardt guys. Brushing past them. A handy little piece of iconography to contribute to the current storyline. (Sense the hint of menace in the foreshortened, dead-end hallway. And look at the right-hand Deanie: is there some longing in the pose? Pining after an old-school manliness he can never attain?)
It's lovely when the consensus-making machinery is this obvious, even if it's in a small way. Think the Times guys were there hoping to see a rumble break out?
posted by michael 5:53:47 PM
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Last update: 5/9/2005; 11:17:36 AM .
