Lookism

Jean Whitney has a front page story about Governor Schwarzenegger's appearance on MSNBC's Hardball program broadcast Monday from Memorial Auditorium at Stanford. Whitney covers both the governors comments and those of his supporters as well as the people gathered with various grievences including nurses, teachers, firefighters and embittered students that were not able to get into the program.

Whitney describes those allowed in as "...well-groomed 30-somethings climbing into late-model cars." She also takes note of the manicure of one of the attendees Christina Benitez. A photo run with the article shows one person wearing a Schwarzenegger mask and two others have what appear to be pig masks, but Whitney's account does not mention the masks nor how they are manicured or what kind of vehicles they arrived in.

Thus we have a template for future reporting. Will we now note the shine on Bern Beecham's cowboy boots or will comments on Mayor Burch's bicyle be in order? Apparently the new nail salons on California Avenue are in for more business.