Unflattering Newsweek cover photo of Michele Bachmann has conservatives up in arms

With a deer in headlights expression on her face against a blue background, Michele Bachmann looks as though someone just informed her she needed a psychiatric consult.   Accusations are flying to and fro in the conservative blogosphere that the photos are sexist, that Newsweek is "liberal" and published the unflattering photo of Bachmann on purpose, and that the people at Newsweek are chauvinist pigs.  Slate reports:

The conservative blogosphere is out with guns blazing about the Michele Bachmann Newsweek cover photo. They're decrying Newsweek's anti-Republican bias, and they're also saying the photo is sexist. Tea Party queen Dana Loesch wrote of the wild-eyed Bachmann, "When your premise is an unflattering photo (and if you don’t have them you’re a liar or Miranda Kerr) to sell your bias, you just might be a chauvinist." (Loesch also invites readers to caption an unflattering photo of Newsweek editor Tina Brown).

Similar accusations were made when Sarah Palin posed for Newsweek:

Slate adds that the charges of sexism may be deserved as photos of politicians such as John McCain and Mitt Romney were done in a serious light.   The Washington Post  reported that Newsbusters wrote that:

it’s clear Newsweek intentionally chose a photo that made Bachmann look “crazy.” Slate asked whether the picture indicated the magazine was “sexist.”

Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin thinks the answer to Slate’s question is yes. Malkin chastised Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown angrily, saying “You’ve resorted to recycling bottom-of-the-barrel moonbat photo cliches about conservative female public figures and their enraged “crazy eyes?” Really?”

The controversy is crossing over into Twitter, where Newsweek is advertising the Bachmann issue under #QueenofRage.

UPDATE:  Under pressure from both sides of the political spectrum about the "crazy eyes" shot of her on the cover of Newsweek prompted Newsweek to release the outtakes of her to show that well, she just looks like that all of the time.  The Daily Beast has those outtakes, and the caption from the first photo reads:

Said Newsweek editor in chief Tina Brown in a statement, “Michele Bachmann’s intensity is galvanizing voters in Iowa right now and Newsweek’s cover captures that." Many of the photographs taken for the feature showed Bachmann with similar intensity. Here are more images from the shoot, including some used inside the magazine, showing Bachmann in the nation’s capital and on the trail in Iowa.

Dakota O'Leary

Dakota O'Leary is a freethinker, and often sassy, scholar of theology and literature. She got her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Theology from the State University of New York College at Buffalo, and her Master of Arts degree in Theology and Literature from Antioch University-Midwest. She is a contributing writer focusing on eschatology, biblical prophecy, and general religious news. Dakota is a co-host of the God Discussion radio show, offering insight to the news stories of the week. We like to call her "our in-house Biblical prophecy expert" as her articles on eschatology have received over 200,000 views on God Discussion.

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