Strange images

I would never spend money on a Newsweek, or even pick one up to read at the library, but the Aug 29 issue (Republican Convention issue) was dumped in the basket at the coffee shop with McCain Palin on the cover, so I picked it up, just to see how the writers would twist the story to Obama's advantage. Oh, here it is. Table of Contents. "McCain's Surprise Attack." Biden was a huge surprise to me since he's just another white guy with about a thousands years in Congress, but I don't have that issue to see if it was called an "attack." Then leaf through an article on Pakistan, something about open season on gays, then why drill, the "Belief Watch" book review of The Shack, a page of jokes about Palin, something on culture like play dates and guys who won't grow up, a cartoon with Mitt dressed as a woman, until finally 2 full size photos of McCain and Palin with the tops of their heads cut off (this is not unusual in portrait photography these days--my U. of I. Library alumni magazine does this too). It's the cover I find so fascinating. I thought someone had spilled something on Palin's face--a big white glare on her glasses. Even with my freebie photo fixer, I can remove glare and clean up wispy hair. And half of Palin's face is actually darker than Michelle Obama's, whose gorgeous photo on the Feb. 18 cover (it came up for some reason when I clicked on "images") had every flaw photo-shopped, the way you would expect a Hollywood movie star with something to gain from such perfection. Palin's photo added 5-10 years, Obama's subtracted about that many. Why do the Obamas need so much help from the media to look and seem to be different than they are? Hmmmm.