Newsweek features Sarah Palin on the cover this week, a couple of weeks after featuring Al Gore. I thought the Gore cover was interesting, but could be interpreted to make him look sinister.
Sexist? Or sac-patriotic?
Palin, on the other hand, is featured in a full photo she posed for Runners World last year. A flattering photo, it also features a U.S. flag, which we’ll get back to in a moment.
Palin complains that the cover is “sexist.”
Yahoo! News has the story, featuring Palin’s Facebook complaint.
“The choice of photo for the cover of this week’s Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this “news” magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner’s World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness — a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention — even if out of context.
But look at the cover. Newsweek brands Palin as a problem — for Republicans. Is the sexism charge designed to divert attention from what Newsweek is saying, editorially?
Look at the display of the flag. Clearly out of flag code on all scores, it appears as if she’s using the flag much as an athletic towel. Now think of the rage the right worked up to when candidate Obama didn’t wear a flag lapel pin. Can you imagine the rage had any Democrat posed for a picture, leaning on the flag like that?
The photo reveals Palin and her handlers as ill-informed on the flag code, and willing to do almost anything to get a camera. I find it interesting that now, more than a year after she posed for the picture, she’s concerned about her showing of leg and not about the political issues raised by Newsweek.
Almost no one worries about the disrespect for the U.S. flag.
_____________
Update: Good commentary at Obsidian Wings — and note the first five or so comments. Smart readers there! Much the same at Majikthise.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 