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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Politics Yellow, Then Red, Then ??

Posted by on Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 5:18 PM

An Anchor in Yellow
  • An Anchor in Yellow
At 7 pm I will be here live-blogging the Hutchison/Constantine debate on KING-5.

I've been asked to put special emphasis on the "visual" qualities of the debate, since Hutchison and Constantine could not be more visually different. She is utterly televisual, which makes me think of David Foster Wallace's essay on television (downloadable here):

How can we be made so willingly to acquiesce for hours daily to the illusion that the people on the TV don't know they're being looked at, to the fantasy that we're transcending privacy and feeding on unself-conscious human activity? There might be lots of reasons why these unrealities are so swallowable, but the big one is that the performers behind the two layers of glass are—varying degrees of Thespian talent aside—absolute geniuses at seeming unwatched. Now, seeming unwatched in front of a TV camera is a genuine art. Take a look at how civilians act when a TV camera is pointed at them: they simply spaz out, or else go all rigor mortis. Even PR people and politicians are, camera-wise, civilians.

But not Hutchison, the former TV anchor. She is not a TV civilian.

Hutchison and Constantine are not quite as televisually different as the classic examples when it comes to political debate: Kennedy and Nixon. But they're divided nonetheless.

And yet during the last debate, Hutchison was the one to break a sweat. Will she do it again??

We shall see how they perform. (We already know who to vote for: "Only you can help prevent another Sarah Palin." And just as another reminder: YES on 71, NO on 1033.)

 

Comments (13) RSS

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FreudianShrimp 1
"I've been asked to put special emphasis on the "visual" qualities of the debate..."

But you scored only 75% on the Donald Judd or Cheap Furniture quiz! Maybe Dan should engage Regina Hackett as a consultant on this one.
Posted by FreudianShrimp on October 20, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Will in Seattle 2
While she does have experience reading from a teleprompter and paving Elliot Bay for her 11 mpg SUV, she seems to lose her way quickly, probably due to the lack of cue cards.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on October 20, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Will in Seattle 3
can someone do her colors? I suggest Purple Mark.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on October 20, 2009 at 5:34 PM
FreudianShrimp 4
I hope the Hutch doesn't do yellow again, it makes her look like Big Bird which reminds one of La- Laa the yellow teletubby; and if she goes purple you know what that means! Yep, she's a Tink.
Posted by FreudianShrimp on October 20, 2009 at 5:37 PM
5
hi
Posted by corcor on October 20, 2009 at 6:09 PM
6
ConstantinSIDER will continue to pull the wool over your eyes, Puget Sound.

Don't believe ConstantinSIDER...he's shoveling money into the hands of his downtown cronies.

Vote Hutchison
YES R-71
YES I-1033

Posted by Vote NO on ConstantinSIDER-Nichols on October 20, 2009 at 6:11 PM
7
Simple rule of thumb - never take political advice from dumbfucks who can't even spell Greg Nickels' name correctly.

You're welcome.

Posted by Mr. X on October 20, 2009 at 6:41 PM
stinkbug 8
Why is the live blogging nowadays just the updated/edit blog entry? What happened to the older chat-style live blog?
Posted by stinkbug on October 20, 2009 at 6:48 PM
9 Comment Pulled (Spam) Comment Policy
10
stinkbug: I liked that, too. But this is what I'm told to do this round. Sorry!
Posted by Jen Graves on October 20, 2009 at 6:52 PM
stinkbug 11
What is her pin all about?
Posted by stinkbug on October 20, 2009 at 7:07 PM
12
Her hair is BAD
Posted by Cocopuff on October 20, 2009 at 7:41 PM
Will in Seattle 13
@11 - it's a secret pin given out to all al-Qaeda supporters, which is what the Talibangelists in the Republic Party of No are.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on October 20, 2009 at 9:56 PM

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