Look, I know NewsMax is a conservative political magazine. I don’t expect hard-hitting investigative journalism, and I don’t expect anything but flattering coverage of Republican candidates and officials.
But Ben Smith noted yesterday that NewsMax wrote a profile about Ann Romney, Mitt’s wife, that is so remarkably over-the-top, one almost wonders if it’s a joke. Alas, it isn’t.
“Ann is warm and very natural. She has the look of an outdoors woman bred to be an equestrian, which she is — good carriage, rosy complexion, square jaw, and blond mane.
“When she is not flashing her truly unbelievable smile, she may lower her eyes demurely. But Ann Romney is not demure — she may be modest, but she isn’t meek. She is unpretentious, but she isn’t shy. She lowers her eyes, thinking, and then looks up directly at her interviewer and dazzles him with that smile.”
Smith noted, “I think I’ve never seen writing, in a publication apparently written by and for grown-ups, like this passage.” Agreed. There’s flattery, there’s sycophancy, and then there’s this. It’s truly breathtaking.
But let’s delve a little deeper. First, it’s worth noting that NewsMax was apparently humiliated for having published such tripe. Less than a day after running the profile on its site, NewsMax gave it a little touch-up. Without alerting readers to the fact that the article had been changed, the publication apparently removed most of the passage, including all of the adjectives. The reader no longer sees anything about Ann Romney’s carriage, complexion, jaw, hair, or “truly unbelievable smile.” (As a rule, it’s unethical to make substantive changes like this without alerting readers.)
Second, if this kind of obsession over appearance sounds familiar, it’s because Mitt Romney was recently lauded for his “sensational good looks.”
And here’s the kicker: this came from NewsMax, too. Better yet, it came from the exact same writer.
Yes, in a recent NewsMax cover-story, Ronald Kessler, the outlet’s chief Washington correspondent, wrote about the former Massachusetts governor:
First, he has sensational good looks. People magazine named him one of the 50 most beautiful people in America. Standing 6 feet, 2 inches tall, Romney has jet-black hair, graying naturally at the temples. Women – who will play a critical role in this coming election – have a word for him: hot.
But it’s more than good looks. In an hour-long NewsMax interview at Romney’s Boston headquarters, the candidate is Reaganesque: a man with a sunny, positive disposition. On his desk he has a desk plate that states “America Is Never Stuck.”
So just when it appeared NewsMax’s Kessler is struck by Mitt Romney’s appearance, he follows up with another piece in which he’s taken aback by Mitt Romney’s wife’s appearance.
So, read NewsMax: the Tiger Beat of the 2008 Republican presidential primary.