In My Orbit...
This is the "Girl's Gone Wild" edition of In My Orbit. The way the GOP establishment and the mainstream media is treating the Delaware Republican candidate for Senate is akin to how they would treat some bubble-headed-young-adult girl who flashes her breasts in the aforementioned DVD series. So much tsk, tsking, Karl Rove bemoaning that all is lost, and the usual credibility-destroying stories about financial and mortgage troubles, abstinence work, and a masturbation comment? A good chunk of the country (including yours truly) are unemployed, underemployed, or have lost their homes to foreclosure; so as far as we're concerned, she can actually identify with what real people go through. We have an admitted tax cheat as Secretary of the Treasury--financial malfeasance didn't stop the Senate from confirming him, did it? And with sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy on the rise, abstinence education doesn't look all that bad. Truly, if this is the best they can come up with, then Christine O'Donnell is definitely a shoe-in for November.
The smart and sassy political consultant and radio co-host Jeri Thompson, who also happens to be the wife of former Senator, Presidential candidate, and Law and Order DA Fred Thompson, chisels a substantive piece in her American Spectator column today. Jeri exposes and excoriates those behind the Christine O'Donnell silliness, detailing the establishment's marginalization of women conservatives, the Tea Party movement, and the new wave of populism that has been ushered in because of said Party, and despite the GOP establishment. A prescient quote:
"While they may not be intending to be sexist, the message, the attitude and whining sure make many in the GOP look eerily like the elites we are trying so hard to usurp. The sexism issues aside, it's time for the Washington GOP establishment to man up and stop sulking over losing -- no, getting walloped -- by a woman they continue to insist is unqualified despite the fact that she has a pretty big win under her belt under pretty difficult circumstances."
My good read of the day: Don't Tell Me She Cant Win.
And the Daily Mail drops an interesting tidbit about our dear FLOTUS. In a new biography by journalists Michael Darmon and Yves Derai in collaboration with Carla Bruni, the FLOF (First Lady of France), Ms. Bruni allegedly asked Michelle Obama about her position as the U.S. President's wife, and Mrs. Obama replied: "Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!"
There have been denials by both Ms. Bruni's and Mrs. Obama's handlers that these words were never spoken, and I believe that's true. Who wouldn't love taxpayer-funded vacations to Spain and magazine photo ops practically ever week?
Whether true or not, like the "first time in my adult life I'm proud of my country" comment, this one will be wrapped around her neck like an albatross. Michele Obama thinks being First Lady is 'hell'...
And sweet Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe of Precious fame graces the cover of Elle magazine this October! This is unprecedented, since no woman above a single-digit size has ever been allowed to headline the magazine. A milestone or an anomaly, who knows? But such an accomplishment should be celebrated, particularly after obvious snubs of the young and vivacious Gabby by Vanity Fair and Vogue in their Hollywood editions. Sadly enough, the majority of the news coverage is about whether Elle "lightened" her skin in the photos! Gabourey Sidibe's Elle Magazine Cover Raises Controversy...
It once again highlights Hollywood's discomfort with plus-sized role models, particularly women of color, who on the average, can more closely identify with Gabby Sidibe than say, Halle Berry. Despite their gifts and accomplishments that have little to do with their size, the Hollywood starmaker machine finds ways to diss them and get them to lose weight, then hawk their new size five as spokesmodels for Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. Jennifer Hudson is the latest example of this model.
With a new supporting role in the Showtime series The Big C, maybe Gabby will stay strong--one can hold out hope.