Dear New York Times: Your Story on Senator Kyrsten Sinema is Not a Good Look For You
“Well, I wonder what it's like to be the rainmaker
I wonder what it's like to know that I made the rain
I'd store it in boxes with little yellow tags on every one
And you can come and see them when I'm
Done, when I'm done…” - Matchbox 20 - Real World
Apparently The New York Times is very impressed that Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has an eclectic sense of fashion. So much so that they spent an excessive amount of space fawning over how the Senator dresses and telling us about how she’s a “maverick” and that her sense of style proves she’s not a mainstream politician.
This obsequious piece of worthless journalism was rightly put in the “Style” section of the paper. Thankfully the editors had the forethought to realize it belongs nowhere near the news section. But even for a style piece, it’s a bit much.
The piece, headlined “Decoding Kyrsten Sinema’s Style,” contains the subhead “Sometimes a dress is just a dress. Sometimes it’s a strategy.”
The Times makes sure we know the Senator is not a traditional politician.
“Ever since she was first elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2005, Ms. Sinema has always stood out in a crowd. And as Ms. Sinema’s legislative demands take center stage (along with those of Senator Joe Manchin, the other Biden Bill holdout) her history of idiosyncratic outfits has taken on a new cast.”
The Times seems to be incredulous about the fact that nearly everyone finds the Arizona Senator to be a pain in the ass standing in the way of major, transformative legislation for absolutely no reason that anyone can discern – because she has never said what she wants to add or take away from the bill or how much she’s willing to spend.
This makes her a maverick, the paper says.
“Senator Sinema began her Washington career by breaking that tradition, clearly reveling in a seemingly endless wardrobe of eye-catching, idiosyncratic and colorful clothes speckled with flowers and zebra stripes: the kind more often labeled “fun” rather than, say, “sober” or “serious”; the kind that were unidentifiable in terms of provenance (where did she get them? where were they made? who knew?); the kind that are not unusual in civilian life, but stand out like neon lights under the rotunda of the Capitol; the kind that maybe call to mind an uninhibited co-worker with a zest for retail therapy at the mall.”
We get it. She likes clothes. She’s no Susan Collins.
While it’s not a news or political piece, this overly long puff piece features a staggering 13 photos of the senator in various outfits and spends hundreds of words telling us that’s she’s not a traditional politician.
Ok. She’s a different breed. For one thing, she’s not eighty years old. So she likes to dress funky.
The Times would be better served doing a long piece on the Senator about her political hijinks and her voting record. According to CQ Almanac, from 2013 to 2019 she never voted more than 75% of the time with other Democrats.
So she’s not much of a team player.
Since Senator Sinema is a woman, has a unique style, is young (relative to the dinosaurs that constitute the Senate – she’s 45) and doesn’t recede into the background, The Times naturally has to compare her to their favorite whipping girl in Congress, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
“It’s no accident that the other congresswoman sworn in at the same time who has become a household name, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is equally good at using the tools of image making to craft her political message,” The Times tells us.
Ummm. No. Senator Sinema is not just as good as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez at using social media to get her message across. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is a master at social media. She uses it to push her agenda in a positive way. Making her point with a funny meme or a photo of herself that’s appropriate to the message.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez became a household name because she has bold ideas and is not afraid to speak about them. She has progressive ideas that she thinks will help everyone. She’s not just a Barbie doll showing off her latest outfit.
Senator Sinema is all over social media as well, apparently using it to push her agenda for Arizona. She also claims to be for the bipartisan infrastructure bill because it’ll help Arizonans. But she has yet to vote for it or to propose any changes to make it palatable.
In a recent Instagram post, Sinema wrote: “Wildfires are happening more often and growing more severe. Our bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds wildfire prevention efforts, reduces hazardous fuels, and boosts recovery efforts.”
Someone writing this you’d think would have no problem voting for the bill then.
But she’s not fooling many of her constituents.
“So why do you continue to vote against your constituents?” one wrote.
“You know, if you were available to speak with constituents you’d understand our actual concerns,” wrote another.
Sen Sinema is a household name because the media thinks she’s a maverick and she dresses funny. She’s all style and no substance. They like it better that way because they don’t have to work so hard to explain her.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is a household name because she is not afraid to speak her mind and tell everyone what she thinks. Because she has progressive ideas and has actually thought through all the ramifications of those ideas.
No one knows what Senator Sinema really feels about anything. She’s never around long enough for anyone to ask her anything of substance.
It’s not hard to “decode” Senator Sinema. There’s nothing of substance under the funky clothing.
All hat. No cattle.