{"id":402,"date":"2007-06-11T07:45:14","date_gmt":"2007-06-11T11:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=402"},"modified":"2007-06-11T07:45:14","modified_gmt":"2007-06-11T11:45:14","slug":"authenticity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Authenticity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Krugman<\/a>:<\/p>\n

>Here\u2019s a suggestion: Why not evaluate candidates\u2019 policy proposals, rather than their authenticity? And if there are reasons to doubt a candidate\u2019s sincerity, spell them out.<\/p>\n

Because:<\/p>\n

. . . . [C]onsider the case of Fred Thompson. He spent 18 years working as a highly paid lobbyist, wore well-tailored suits and drove a black Lincoln Continental. When he ran for the Senate, however, his campaign reinvented him as a good old boy: it leased a used red pickup truck for him to drive, dressed up in jeans and a work shirt, with a can of Red Man chewing tobacco on the front seat.<\/p>\n

>But Mr. Thompson\u2019s strength, says Lanny Davis in The Hill, is that he\u2019s \u201cauthentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

And also:<\/p>\n

>Oh, and as a candidate George W. Bush was praised as being more authentic than Al Gore. As late as November 2005, MSNBC\u2019s chief political correspondent declared that Mr. Bush\u2019s authenticity was his remaining source of strength. But now The A.P. says that Mr. Bush\u2019s lack of credibility is the reason his would-be successors need to seem, yes, authentic.<\/p>\n

Even more ridiculous than the politics of “authenticity” (which only applies to Republicans by the way), is the politics of head and shoulders:<\/p>\n

Speaking of Mitt Romney’s performance at the debate the other night, the Politico<\/a> (that’s some kind of blog) writes:<\/p>\n

>FIRST PLACE: Mitt Romney<\/p>\n

>Analysis: Strong, clear, gives good soundbite and has shoulders you could land a 737 on<\/strong>. Not only knows how to answer a question, but how to duck one. Asked why he was so late in deciding to oppose abortion, Romney smoothly replied: \u201cI’m not going to apologize for the fact that I became pro-life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the praise for this man’s shoulders, his hair<\/a>:<\/p>\n

>Romney has chiseled-out-of-granite features, a full, dark head of hair going a distinguished gray at the temples, and a barrel chest. On the morning that he announced for president, I bumped into him in the lounge of the Marriott and up close he is almost overpowering. He radiates vigor.<\/p>\n

Now the kicker:<\/p>\n

>And he can\u2019t wait to stand next to John McCain on a stage and invite comparison. (McCain, who looks less hearty than Romney, was severely injured while fighting for his country as a Naval aviator. Romney never served in the military, though the band at his announcement played both \u201cAnchors Aweigh\u201d and \u201cThe Marines\u2019 Hymn.\u201d)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Krugman: >Here\u2019s a suggestion: Why not evaluate candidates\u2019 policy proposals, rather than their authenticity? And if there are reasons to doubt a candidate\u2019s sincerity, spell them out. Because: . . . . [C]onsider the case of Fred Thompson. He spent 18 years working as a highly paid lobbyist, wore well-tailored suits and drove a … Continue reading Authenticity<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-krugman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}