Thursday, March 02, 2006

Arroz con Buffo




WASHINGTON (AP) – Condoleezza Rice, the nation's top diplomat, is appearing in a three-part TV interview (conducted by NBC’s Washington affiliate) in which she rides a bike, works on her abs, pumps iron and talks about her weight."

What? No footage of her brushing her famous teeth, taking a colonic or enjoying a post-workout shower, slowly massaging foamy cleansing gel all over her lissome body as rivulets of hot steamy water trickle down between her….?

Samantha von Sperling, a New York-based image consultant whose customers include politicians, was skeptical. She admires Rice, but finds this all to be a bit "Oprah-esque."
"It just strikes me as, what's the point?" she said. "Why do I need to see her in Spandex? It has nothing to do with the quality of her mind. And if she were a man, they wouldn't have asked her to do the story."

This from an image-consultant! What is the world coming to? Samantha clearly forgot to check her brain at the door.

Others argued that given the nation's weight problem, some role modeling couldn't hurt.

DAMN STRAIGHT! Look at all the fat chicks featured in movies , on television and in magazines! They aren't regular people! How can anyone possibly relate to them? Condi on the other hand...is so real! I mean, look at her hair! It's not just real, its super-real!

"
It's enormously encouraging to other folks who have very busy lives," said Alicia Moag-Stahlberg, executive director of Action for Healthy Kids, a coalition of more than 40 health and education agencies.

All-righty then! Should Ms. Rice pull a hamstring or something, Alicia Moag-Stahlberg sounds perfectly qualified to fill-in as Secretary of State for a couple of weeks.

The first segment aired Wednesday on Washington's NBC affiliate. Now all the people working on their belt line inside the Beltway can see how the secretary of state does it.

Does what? Pedalling really fast, forwards and backwards. without going anywhere?

So is this uplifting? Unbecoming? Either way, Rice may be playing to a converted audience. Wednesday's segment aired at 5:45 a.m.
At that hour, only the deeply committed are exercising.
At least now, there's something healthy on TV to watch.

Yup, there’s nothing healthier than watching a supple, sweaty, light skinned Nubian Secretary of State exercise on TV, so you don’t have to. It’s a vital part of her job.

(You know, if Elizabeth Vargas had written this piece instead of some anonymous AP reporter, we all would have been spared the vicious and uncalled-for comments of the treasonous east-coast elitist Samantha Von Sperling).

3 comments:

Red Tory said...

Whenever I think this administration couldn't possibly become more fantastically absurd they somehow manage to counfound me.

Anonymous said...

Your words about Samantha are pretty harsh. Outch. I didn't find her comments so offensive. I felt they were called for... what are we doing watching the secretary of state working out when we should be noticing how the world around us is falling apart! In any event, I think you may have misconstrued what Samantha was trying to convey.

5th Estate said...

Actually, anonymous, you've misconstrued my comment that Sperling "forgot to check her brain at the door"--what that was meant to convey was that Sperling actually has a brain, but I guess it was inartful writing on my part.

Samanthas's comments are substantive (whereas as the media consulting business itself seems largely shallow)and I agree with her completely.