I liked the ad, partly because I’m pretty sure MoveOn.org doesn’t just hire good-looking females and use them to sell healthcare. Graham volunteered her strong, healthy body to draw a comparison between “bloated” and “fat” Big Healthcare and a healthy, strong, lean Public Option.

Those Big Mac munchers in the ad are supposed to be UnitedHealthCare and Aetna personified– so even though the message of the ad is still that fat is bad, it’s “fat” in the context of budgets and bonuses. The ad does a nice job of exploiting current populist anger.

I think it’s important to consider intent here. While I completely agree with your basic assumptions (which I believe are 1. sex sells and 2. everyone is using sex to sell everything all the time), I’m not sure that Graham is being exploited in this ad. There’s no doubt that she looks as she does because she has a personal trainer and a diet coach. But to carry the metaphor, wouldn’t it be nice if Big Pharma and Big Insurance were on a diet, too?

but, OK, let’s say I concede the points: surely we can agree that the cartoon doesn’t actually get at this in any meaningful way**. it seems a stretch of heroic proportions to say that *this* is what the cartoon is *really about*. if the cartoon was out to show what you say it is, surely it would have, I don’t know, invoked the relevant comparisons you mention (public treatment of both figure’s male counterparts).

So: can we agree that, one way or another, this is a cartoon FAIL?

** AND I would probably argue that in going about making its point so vaguely and ineffectually, it perpetuates (if only a little) the same silly ‘both sides now’ discourse that has hobbled journalism from doing analysis of societally useful value

It’s not a perfectly conceived cartoon, to be sure. But I think it brings up a good point about the reception of women politicians in politics, and how that transcends party lines. I will also say that though there are many men in the Republican party every bit as “unserious about governance, often less-than-reasonable, and generally obstructionist for obstructionism’s sake” as Palin and Bachmann, I believe that these women are painted with a different brush than their male counterparts. It’s my sense that they’re more apt to be labeled foolish, stupid, or crazy by detractors, while their male counterparts are simply wrong, or if anything devious or greedy (negative qualities, but ones which imply more of a sense of agency and intelligence). I don’t mean to stand up for Palin, Bachmann, or anyone of their ilk–I merely want to say that it seems to me that even when you get down past the fact that these female politicians from both sides of the political aisle may be disliked for different and unequally justifiable sets of reasons, the way they are disliked is more similar than perhaps your critique suggests.

1) democrats hate palin and bachmann for the same reasons, and in the same way, that GOP hates clinton and pelosi

2) relatedly, the suggestion that (1) is not true has no basis in fact

I take both of these points to be pretty tendentious, to put it mildly. Democrats dislike Palin and Bachmann because they are deeply unserious about governance, often less-than-reasonable, and generally obstructionist for obstructionism’s sake (this applies less so to Palin, who does not actually hold political office, so cannot be particularly obstructionist).

The GOP hates clinton and pelosi because, well, the GOP is deeply unserious about governance, often less-than-reasonable, and generally obstructionist for obstructionism’s sake. Also, the GOP, it seems clear, is more sexist and racist than the Democrats.

More importantly, however, it isn’t just “the democrats” who hate Palin and Bachmann. Palin is one of the least popular political figures in recent American history. Bachmann is in office for now, yes, but as a member of a party that has just suffered an electoral defeat of devastating proportions (of course, democrats seem not to realise this – they won! – but that’s another problem).

so, drawing equivalence between the kind of dislike that these folks receive doesn’t seem quite right.