Karl Rove’s happy photogenic aide
posted by Kaimipono D. Wenger
The New York Times front page is running a photo of Karl Rove. Alone? No — the photographer is careful to include the smiling woman at Rove’s side. Meanwhile, the lead pictures at Yahoo – taken from a different angle — again include the same woman, and she’s smiling some more. (Rove himself is smiling in a few of the pictures, and kind of glaring in a few of them).
So who is this woman who is awarded photo space on the NYT and Yahoo front pages? She must be someone important. Is she Rove’s chief lawyer? A family member? A close friend?
Nope — according to the caption at Yahoo, the woman in the photos is Rove’s executive assistant, Taylor Hughes. No further explanation is provided. Based on today’s pictures, I’d say that her job is apparently to stand near Rove and smile brightly whenever pictures are being taken. This is a probably good strategy, too, because Rove himself often looks pretty glum. I guess she really is important.
June 13, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Posted in: Current Events
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Responses (7)
AnthonyC.Quintavalle - June 14, 2006 at 11:25 am
Dear To Whom:
Being ” W ” Best Buddy, you can get away
With TREASON!
Nice Work, if you can get it! Fitzgerald was hand picked by ” W “!
Makes Sense!
Scoter will take the FALL! That’s After
Cheney’s anger over the truth, by Wilson!
What an Adminatration! LIES, LIES, Lies!
Justice Desired
Anthony C. Quintavalle
Maryland Conservatarian - June 14, 2006 at 11:41 am
I wonder what law school Mr. Quintavalle teaches at?…..and how long before he becomes the next guest blogger.
eff - June 14, 2006 at 6:07 pm
she is hot!
MJ - June 15, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Is there even one single solitary point to your post other than the fact that you don’t like Karl Rove? You can’t seriously be saying that high ranking government officials aren’t photographed all of the time with their assistants by there side, thus you’re simply disparaging – with your snide “Based on today’s pictures, I’d say that her job is apparently to stand near Rove and smile brightly whenever pictures are being taken” comment – Ms. Hughes.
I’m quite sure that you have no idea what she does for Mr. Rove, and to imply that she is merely eye-candy because she happens to be very beautiful is ignorant and sexist.
Utterly pointless. If you feel the need to post tripe like that, perhaps you should consider Daily Kos.
Bess - June 16, 2006 at 5:29 am
There are plenty of pool photos with Rove standing next to men. Odd you haven’t blogged about those…
Kaimi - June 16, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Ann Bartow posted on this, at http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=672 .
I replied there, as follows:
Ann,
Sure, she could be smart and hardworking. She probably is. But does even the smartest, hardest-working legislative aide really belong on the front page of the NYT online? Ms. Hughes is getting equal space with Rove on some of the most prime online real-estate around.
I’ve never been a legislative aide myself, but my friends who have are clear — the legislative aide’s job is to get-out-of-the-picture. That doesn’t seem to be happening here.
There are certainly feminist questions about how the picture is presented. This is clearly a picture of two people, both of whom are fully pictured — yet the NYT caption doesn’t mention her name or even that she exists. It’s not clear — is she deliberately part of the picture? Or is she doing her best to be out-of-the-picture, and multiple photographers simply felt like including her?
And aren’t some questions raised by the presence of numerous Rove-and-Hughes pictures in the news — the lead pictures at NYT and Yahoo — most of these captioned solely as “Rove” (no mention of anyone else) or at best “Rove and an unidentified aide.”
Bruce - June 16, 2006 at 10:25 pm
“Unidentified” in newspaper-speak I think just means “photographer has no idea who that is.”
I think photographers are often looking for an unusual shot, but the artistic shot is not always the best illustration for a news story.
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