The June 1st broadcast of CNN‘s “Larry King Live” show featured celebrity reporters and fashion journalists discussing a famous American woman’s most salient features.
“She has a bad figure. She’s bottom heavy and her legs are short,” reported CNN‘s style editor, Elsa Klensch.
But, “she’s making the most of it,” by “seeking high-end fashion advice which has really been helping,” we learned from Claudia Cohen, the entertainment reporter for Live with Regis and Kathy Lee.
Celebrity divorce lawyer and talk show host Raoul Felder was less forgiving to the woman at the center of the discussion, saying, “I don’t know one good thing about her. She’s got fat…. her legs are too short, her arms are too long…. If your legs are too short how do you evolve?”
Performance coach Anthony Robbins added, “When she gets angry, she comes across as hard and bitchy and intense.”
The only thing they could all agree on was that her warm smile is one of her greatest assets.
Think these panelists were discussing a runway model or a Hollywood starlet?
Think again.
Larry King brought together these image consultants and fashion reporters to debate “how New Yorkers perceive the First Lady,” Hillary Clinton, in light of her potential Senate bid. The first question King asked set the tone for the show: “Does she [Hillary] bring anything style-wise to this?”
If these are the new terms for debating the New York Senate race, can we expect a similar panel on “Larry King Live” addressing what Rudy Giuliani “brings stylewise” to New York, with image gurus warning the Mayor that his comb-over makes him look “smarmy,” or debating how Rudy can “evolve” beyond the liability of his spindly legs?
Earlier on the show King featured a panel of political insiders from Democratic Representative Charles Rangel to Republican strategist Ed Rollins for some inside-the-Beltway banter about whether Hillary Clinton could win a Senate seat in New York. You might wonder why glorified paparazzi like Elsa Klencsh and Claudia Cohen were called in to comment on regional politics. As we learned in the early ’90s, when newspapers covered reports on Hillary’s health care proposals alongside photo spreads of her various haircuts, a woman’s appearance and fashion sense are just as “newsworthy” as her qualifications and her political positions.
After assessing the potential candidate’s body parts at length, you have to wonder how, toward the end of his show, Larry King could keep a straight face while asking his specially chosen, fashion-conscious panel: “Do looks matter?” If women’s looks didn’t matter to King, he wouldn’t have booked CNN‘s style editor to dish up the scoop on Hillary’s hair-care choices during a talk show about her chances in a Senate race. (Top story according to Klensch: Hillary “just had a $500 hair restyling. Her hair is shorter, layered. It’s recolored so it brings light to her face. She’s got a round face, and she’s had it styled so her face looks slimmer.”)
Hillary Clinton is one of the most talked-about political figures in the country. It is unfortunate that her politics are not given the same scrutiny as her often commented-upon figure. With a Senate race almost assuredly in Hillary Clinton’s near future, let’s hope that journalists can think of a few more interesting things to focus on in future profiles of the first First Lady to run for the U.S. Senate.
ACTION ALERT: Do you find the gratuitous focus on a political candidate’s looks more than a little disconcerting? If so, contact Larry King Live directly:
Phone: 202-898-7690Fax: 202-898-7686E-mail: on-air@turner.com
If you wish to “cc” FAIR with your letters, please fax to Jennifer Pozner, Women’s Desk Director, at 212-727-7668, or via email atjpozner@fair.org.
For information on previous rounds of press coverage of Hillary Clinton, read “Dissecting the Media Hype on Hillary.” For an analysis of the media coverage of Clinton’s health care proposals, read “When ‘Both Sides’ Aren’t Enough.”
