Sometimes Appearances Aren't Deceiving

A lot has been made recently over the physical appearance of candidates and how our nation's obsession with youth is particularly hard on woman candidates such as Hillary Clinton. I don't doubt that women are held to a higher standard, but most of that nonsense is their own doing. Last I checked, most men couldn't care less about fashion, makeup or sadly in some cases even basic hygiene. I don't think too many men found Ella Grasso, Golda Meir or Margaret Thatcher all that sexually alluring, but it was never about that with these women. It was about their policies, brilliance and excellence.

Hillary Clinton is politically and aurally abhorrent to me but there's nothing wrong with how she dresses or looks. If anything, she's much better looking now, than she used to be. Not that that matters in the least. If she looked liked Bella Abzug and thought like Ronald Reagan I'd vote for her. If she looked like Audrey Hepburn and thought like Hillary Clinton, I'd vote for who ever runs against her.

One look at Dennis Kucinich and it's plainly clear that the hamster's off his wheel. What you see is what you get with John Edwards, a primped and blow dried lightweight. That's a bit of a double standard, men are expected to be tall, blue suited, well groomed and preferably handsome, but not look as if they try to be. In my opinion, any man or woman who uses botox or has hair plugs is far too vain to be trusted with national office.

As a man, it's not hard to groom. You shave, shower, deodorize, clip, swab, comb and dress. What are you going to wear? A blue suit, a white shirt and a reddish tie. Black tie for formal events, white tie for very formal events. Jeans or khakis and a chambray shirt when casual. Never, ever be caught dead windsurfing in a little spandex outfit, that's just gay. Gay in the bad sense, not in the proud and perfectly OK sense of our robust homosexual community. Never, ever wear a sweater vest or cardigan sweater or a multicolored Cosby sweater, you're not running for president of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.