by Damozel | But of course: it's always the mid-Twentieth Century for a certain segment of the American public. Family Circle is sponsoring a bake-off between potential First Spouses. Which one is the best role model for the homemakers of America? As The New York Daily News says, '[T]he stakes are not small. The wives of the winners of the last four presidential elections have also won this competition.'
So...by failing to win this competition, Michelle or Cindy may cause their husbands to lose the election. Furthermore, they'll reveal themselves to be unfit to be a presidential spouse. A presidential spouse needs to be a good role model, even if the spouse is Bill Clinton. Bill submitted a recipe for oatmeal cookies.
It's worth noting that none of the spouses claims that the recipe was her --- or his --- own invention. It's not Top Chef. So the whole thing is kind of a farce.
Bill Clinton's oatmeal cookies originated with the Clinton family chef. (FC) Michelle Obama attributes hers to a family friend; Cindy McCain to a 'good friend.' (FC) Those who care are meant to bake them all and vote at Family Circle. You can see the recipes at the website. I'm not sure what any of it proves.
Cindy's in trouble now because her recipe for oatmeal butterscotch cookies turns out to be the same as Hershey's. Oops. I can guess how it happened. Probably the good friend's mom used to make delicious Hershey's butterscotch cookies without attribution. After all, the average cookie-baking mom wouldn't say, 'I've made a plate of butterscotch cookies using the Hershey's recipe.' She just says, 'Here is a butterscotch cookie. Go play outside.' Possibly she learned to bake cookies from watching her mom and never realized that it was a Hershey's restaurant.
I myself was very surprised the last time I baked anything --- I think it was 1981 --- when I asked my best friend for her recipe for tollhouse cookies and she said, 'Just look on the back of the bag for the Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips.'
What if Cindy had said, 'Here's my favorite recipe. It's from Hershey's.' Would that have been a problem? Surely Hershey's would have appreciated the plug.
Sadly for Cindy, she's been accused before of purloining other people's recipes . In April, the New York Daily News reminds us, the McCain campaign blamed an intern for putting up a recipe at the McCain campaign website that was attributed to Cindy. . Actually, it was a recipe from the Food Network. David Weiner at The Huffington Post was rather mordant about Cindy and Recipe-gate Part 1. Now that we're onto Part 2 I am afraid that her reputation for stealing recipes is confirmed.
It all seems pretty silly to me. I can list a dozen reasons for not voting for McCain s for not voting for McCain right off the top of my head and a dozen more with a little further thought and not one of them i is 'Because Cindy didn't win the bake-off (or rather "bake-off")' or even 'Because Cindy steals recipes.'
It's a bit pathetic to me that someone in the campaign thought that she needed to share 'her' recipes in the first place, but of course McCain's 'base' are Republicans. In my rather extensive experience of Republicans, quite a few of those over forty (and maybe some of the younger ones; who knows) have strong convictions about what 'womenfolk' are for. One of the things is cooking. This is one of many reasons I am a Democrat.
Michelle Cottle writes at The New Republic, and she is 100% correct:
So what does this tell us about the state of the union--or at least of the presidential race? It tells us that it's time to stop treating the candidates' spouses as embarrassing stereotypes by making them jump through absurd hoops that, let's face it, even many hard-care, full-time stay-at-home mommies would be hard pressed to handle. I mean, who has time these days to bake homemade cookies--not just from scratch--but from some carefully crafted recipe that these spouses either dreamed up themselves or inherited from their Great Aunt Beullah?
Sadly -- again --- for Cindy, all the Republican homemakers I know are way more likely than the Democrats to get miffed if you steal their recipes. They don't even care if you provide appropriate attribution. They're very protective of their intellectual property rights. These allegations, however absurd, are likely to raise a few well-plucked eyebrows at the Junior League and the country club.
Will Cookie-gate lose McCain the general? Only time will tell.
But hang on. Michelle Cottle is giving me an idea. Idea for a reality show: Michelle and Cindy compete in twelve tasks designed to see whether they have what it takes to be role models. Tim Gunn, Gordon Ramsay, and Martha Stewart are the judges, assisted each week by a revolving panel of experts. Remember, you heard it first from me.
RECENT BN-POLITICS POSTINGS
How KBR Got Paid $1 Billion in 'Noncredible' Costs
Oversight Committee Subpoenas Mukasey re: Valerie Plame Outing
Obama Loves the So-Called "Free Market": Oh, Dear...
Doyle Hire: Was It A Big F*** You to Clinton & Her Supporters?
California Allows Gay Marriage
Gore Endorses Obama; Patti Solis Doyle Joins Obama Campaign (and What that Means for Clinton)
The 'Fair Use' Flap: Associated Press to Set Guidelines for Bloggers?
I just want to emphasize the good work on this blog, has excellent views and a clear vision of what you are looking for.
Posted by: cheap viagra | December 11, 2009 at 11:25 AM