The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

Enough Photo Fun Already!

As Melinda said, for everyone who chuckles at the photo of Hillary looking haggard, there’s at least one other person whose vote will be tipped in her direction if they sense she’s being picked on for being a middle-aged woman who looks like a middle-aged woman.

I thought of this when I saw another photo—the Huckabee family Christmas card from back when he was governor of Arkansas. You know this photo is going to be passed around by Huckabee haters with a disingenuous “What a lovely family!” type of remark. Or it’ll be an vehicle for undisguised smirks and jokes. It’s not just the plus-sized lads, it’s the matching outfits, and the weird elbow patches.

But for every laugh, there’ll be someone who sees the photo and recognizes their own family or the happy clan they wish they were. And there’ll be lots of people who hear those smirks and giggles and remember how much they hate the snobby bicoastal elites who live on coffee and breath mints and have such contempt for family life.

In other words, can we all skip the photo fun? It’s not only slimy, it wins friends for your enemies.