SocraticGadfly: Pandering pink prez candidates

March 06, 2019

Pandering pink prez candidates

I said, in my original post with my first evaluations of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and their chances, that at some point, I was going to start evaluating campaign websites. Consider this a first installment on that, about one specific issue.

Per the header, it's a subtake.

It's checking declared women candidates to see how much pandering they do with the use of pink as a color. Links below are to campaign websites.

Kirsten Gillibrand of #MeToo fame in the Senate was bad when she launched and remains bad today. Given her pivot against Al Franken is part of what propelled her into the race, the hypocrisy level is high. But, from Gillibrand, not shocking. Give her an F here. The pandering is simply blatant, when large chunks of the website are black-and-white, except for the pink. That said, Gillibrand comes near to, if not into, SJW territory on this; I believe she supports "Mattress Girl" Emma Sulkowicz uncritically.

New Age guru Marianne Williamson appears to be a fairly close second. If not for that, her website would get some kudos for a sketch drawing of her, not a photo, up front, and some creative font usage. But, no ... as is, still too pandering. C-minus.

Kamala Harris is running third; she was a bit worse, but it looks like she's toned some things down. C for now; would have been D-plus a few weeks back.

Given her beer on Instagram video, I'm surprised in a sense but not in others. Elizabeth Warren appears largely pander-free. B-plus.

And, I initially forgot Amy Klobuchar. While she sux in other ways, she appears to be pander-free on this issue on her website. The blazer she wears in one picture is salmon, not pink, and I'm pretty sure the young girl in the pink dress is dressed that way by her choice. So, a straight A on this particular subissue.

And, I realized I also forgot Tulsi Gabbard! (Derp.) She too gets an A for no pandering. And, among these candidates, at least, she's definitely the most visuals-heavy. I might rank hers as the best overall website by design standards in this group.

And, Klobuchar and Gabbard may not have stuck out for me precisely because of the lack of pandering.

(This is another reason to be glad Hillary Clinton decided not to run; she's probably use pink as the backdrop for her whole damned website.)

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