Robin Givhan constructs ‘Elena Kagan’ - Brendan Nyhan
As I’ve written before, the Washington Post Style section helped create the snark-filled, mind-reading style of narrative writing that has infected political journalism. One of its stars is Robin Givhan, who, to take just one example, wrote an entire article about Hillary Clinton’s cleavage.
Givhan’s latest contribution to American democracy is a 1000 word analysis of Elena Kagan’s clothes and body language. Characteristically, Givhan takes a superficial observation — the idea that Kagan doesn’t cross her legs — as a pretext for psychologizing about the Supreme Court nominee’s preference for comfort (my emphasis):
Wouldn’t it be easier to get away with inventing a situation for commentary if you worked for the National Enquirer or People Magazine? I guess the Washington Post couldn’t find any better candidates ala Robin Givhan…