It's ironic how feminist journalists, always decrying the unfair standards of beauty for women, could turn around and attack Katherine Harris for her makeup.
TAMPA - During the presidential election recount of 2000, Florida was in a white-hot spotlight, focused on a woman not accustomed to national publicity - then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris.Harris' decision against a ballot recount made her a hero to Republicans and anathema to Democrats. She also was bashed for something else: her makeup.
One Democratic commentator compared her to Cruella DeVil of the Disney movie `"101 Dalmatians.'' Comic Jay Leno said a cold snap made Florida so chilly Harris "put on a third layer of makeup.''
On Monday, on a conservative radio talk show, Harris, now a congresswoman from Longboat Key running for the U.S. Senate, hit back, blaming newspapers for the criticism and charging that some - without saying which - altered her photographs.
"I'm actually very sensitive about those things, and it's personally painful,'' Harris said when host Sean Hannity asked about her image problems from 2000.
"But they're outrageously false, No. 1, and No. 2, you know, whenever they made fun of my makeup, it was because the newspapers colorized my photograph,'' Harris said.
