America’s pundit class hasn’t quite finished talking about Newsweek’s “intense” cover photo of Rep. Michele Bachmann, but it’s already safe to say the UK Telegraph has found a way to grossly outdo it. In a scathing look at the Iowa State Fair that makes it sound part Rome during Lupercalia, part French Revolution mobbery, the Telegraph decided to run a somewhat blurry photo of Rep. Bachmann, mid blink, chomping on a corn dog.

Then there’s the sexist subtext here: would the Telegraph have run a similar photo of a presidential candidate consuming an obvious phallic symbol if said candidate were male? Phallic symbols make for good comedy, sure, but the Telegraph is not Mad Magazine, and there appears to be no intent at humor here, only degradation. The image sends a clear message to any woman thinking about pursuing such high public office: we at the Telegraph are unable to look at you as anything but a sex object, no matter what your qualifications for office.

- Mediate

 

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