(Oops, Sorry. I Must Be In The Wrong Place. I Thought This Was The Trailer For The New “Miami Vice” Movie.)

I can’t think of a photo better than the second one to illustrate the GOP’s attrition problems.

Will former Lt. Gov. Steele follow in the model of the DNC’s Howard Dean and be a leader in “remaking” the GOP to reach out beyond its core? Or do we just have some theatrics going on here, to pick up on the cinematic theme. I can see the trailer now: “In a world where traditional values have gone astray, only a man whose name is Steele can give the shaft to those who seek to destroy the culture.” And with respect, cue Issac Hayes, cue Don LaFontaine. -30-

I wonder what the top picture would look like if it weren’t distorted. The lens, or editing, or something, changed the depth of the elements. The changes make the doors look a lot longer. If you compare the length of the doors to the width of the opening, they look extra wide in a standard width opening. (Yes, I do make a living building doors.) Editing probably changed the size of a lot of other elements, and how they relate to each other.
This isn’t to prove a point or intent, I don’t know anything about Michael Steele.

The thing that struck me about the second photo is that Steele is so starkly limned against that blue, blue sky that he almost looks like one of those cardboard cutouts of celebrities that you can stand next to to get your picture taken. So he appears at first glance to be a simulacrum literally stuck into the background of the scene.

And so he does, Julia. That got a chuckle from me. Steele is much better than his African-American colleague Ken Blackwell, but “much better” in the GOP is a relative term. I think the RNC had to pick Steele to counter their increasingly out of touch image. Will it work? Only if they can put the Palinites back in the box and shut Supreme Leader Limbaugh up. I’m not holding my breath.

Could this be the case of a journalist hoping that down the road he’ll have the retro-scoop of “even when nobody knew this guy, I knew he’d be great”

Perhaps as a person of a tinted persuasion, I have a different take on that second scene. It looks as if everyone in that picture is looking at the old white guy with the walrus moustache, and Steele looks kind of in the background, as if no one wants to acknowledge him or deal with him and he’s waiting for a chance to be noticed.

…why does it feel like we are somehow supposed to be fascinated with this guy? Why, especially given these shots, should it seem like the coolest, most obvious choice for the job… The shots look more like promo pics for a fast-paced, high contrast, high attitude action thriller… He’s tall. He’s bad. He’s on the move. He’s always smack in the middle. He can crack a case just by crossing his arms.
Or by raising them. He is the Man now, baby…

…but we’ve seen this flick before.
Wasn’t it called The Usual Suspects?

In the first photo, the guy to Steele’s right looks JUST like Bernie Madoff.

cenoxo, Barack is HAWT! Steele… not so much.

That second photo is srange to me. It’s dynamic, of course. The sight lines of all the people in the photo make almost a star shape. But, what the hell are they actually doing? Nobody seems to have their mouth open and talking. Nobody is gesturing, aside from Steele who has his arms impassively folded in front of him. Maybe Mr. Walrus Stache is saying something but he could just be breathing out of his mouth. Anyway, I see a real dynamic photograph with nothing happening in it. The caption doesn’t give me much of a clue, either. And that’s today’s GOP: trying to make something static and immobile look dynamic and new.

the shot of steele busting through the door reminded me of the beastie boys song sabotage.