Fashion in Tonights Debate: Romney vs Obama - Page 2

Originally Posted by chogall 

both candidates wore a huge stack on pant cuffs.  disadvantage 'merica.

Originally Posted by Quadcammer 

overall...snoooze

Originally Posted by Digmenow 

Rev. Al's suit looked awesome on the MSNBC followup show. He's lost weight, as well. He's an angry, angry man.

Originally Posted by Loathing 

How's does Mr Romney mange to dress so poorly when he's sitting on a billion?

Mitt Romney’s flag pin: What’s that star on the stripes?

As armies of pundits and fact-checkers inspected every phrase and shrug of Mitt Romney and President Obama in Wednesday’s debate, we got this message from a high-level foreign affairs specialist:

“What is that black spot on Romney’s pin? It’s driving me crazy!”

The dot on Romney’s oversize American flag pin is the Secret Service star logo imposed over the stripes, a custom version created for agents and fans. The pin — for decorative purposes only, not security clearance — was a gift to Romney from his protective detail, but it’s also sold at the Secret Service store in Washington and traded by staffers, just like Olympic pins.

Call us shallow, but we seem to spend waay too much time checking out politicians’ lapels. Not since Madeleine Albright have chest pins been such a big deal — why, now it’s almost politically incorrect for any candidate to show up with a naked suit, as Obama found out in 2007, when the presidential candidate was called out by a reporter for not sporting the flag.

“My attitude is that I’m less concerned about what you’re wearing on your lapel than what’s in your heart,” he told a campaign crowd in Iowa. But the pin came back — and stayed.

The tradition only goes back about 40 years, when Richard Nixon started wearing a flag lapel pin regularly. Nixon biographer Stephen Ambrose wrote that the president, besieged by anti-war protests, got the idea from his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman — who picked it up (we are not making this up) from Robert Redford’s 1972 film, “The Candidate.” The lapel pin started as a Republican gesture; after 9/11, politicians from both parties donned the pins as symbols of patriotism and solidarity.

Today, a simple American flag is just the beginning. The new trend is to customize: Romney has worn the Secret Service lapel pin (Paul Ryan wears what appears to be a variant) and occasionally a flag with a GOP elephant. During the Republican debates, Newt Gingrich wore a pin of the flag that George Washington used in the Revolutionary War. So far, the president and Joe Biden are sticking to the classic American flag pin.

Not everyone liked Romney’s flag pin: Esquire’s Kurt Soller had no problem with the Secret Service logo, but thought it was too big: “Wearing a larger pin — which, in itself, is a piece of jewelry, though probably a pretty cheap one — just served, for me at least, to underline the wealth that’s come from all his business success. It’s a weird show of machismo.”

Hey, everybody’s a critic.

Originally Posted by Frankie22 

+1

Sharpton has been killing it. 

I like the Kudlow report (Sharpton is on prior) so I always catch the tail end of his rants. Great suits, wonder if he goes bespoke? 

Originally Posted by Layered Player 

Most likely as he's actually a very small man with a big head.

 

I saw him at Reagan National and was very surprised at how short he really is.

Originally Posted by Frankie22 

+1
Sharpton has been killing it. 
I like the Kudlow report (Sharpton is on prior) so I always catch the tail end of his rants. Great suits, wonder if he goes bespoke?