The Most Trusted Name In Surreptitious Height-Adjustments

Size matters at CNN: During last night's debate, CNN had elfin little Dennis Kucinich propped up against the podium courtesy of a goodly-sized step, and gave Hillary Clinton a wee boost as well (see pic). It wasn't exactly a secret — the steps were visible, ish, during wide shots, if you knew to look for them, and they were mentioned on CNN's "Raw Politics" segment post-debate last night, where CNN's Tom Foreman made fun of Kuchinich's comparative giantess of a wife and referred to Newt Gingrich as "The Newtster." That bears repeating: CNN referred to Newt Gingrich as "The Newtster." So, should we, as loyal viewers seeking the unvarnished truth, care that CNN resorted to clever subterfuge to make all the candidates seem the same height? Probably not, unless we're heightist, and lord knows nobody's ever that! But it might be irksome for, say, John Edwards , not a super-tall man, who might have appreciated those few inches on Clinton. As it was, the three frontrunners, shown together in so many shots, formed an impressive whole, with barely a dip between Hillary and Edwards gliding upwards to Obama. The comment was made last night on the post-debate chatfest that Hillary looked "presidential" (whatever that means); who knows if that impression was augmented by the additional few inches (but then again, CNN was clearly going for something in providing the boost). At any rate, this would have been negotiated between the campaigns and CNN, and presumably Edwards or Biden or whomever could have sought a similar boost (though issues of masculine pride no doubt would have been a deterrent, as well as the fact that the boost would be a certain story). Kucinich is short and known to be short, so it didn't matter either way, as stuck out at the end he was only juxtaposed against Joe Biden, anyway. But for Hillary — a woman, who can get away with such measures, even if she can't get away with being, you know, bossy* — the choice was a good one, placing her in the middle of her two closest competitiors on their level rather than dwarfed by them. Who knows how these non-verbal impressions stack up at the end of the day, other than that they do; either way, Mike Gravel is still sorta nuts.

*This post is not meant to open the floodgates of debate on whether Hillary is, in fact, bossy; some think she is, some think she isn't, and some might even have the exact same opinion if she were a man. However, it does cut both ways — get the degree of so-called "bossiness" right, and suddenly they're calling you "presidential."