I thought this community could use something completely different, what with the predominance of posts about the US health care debates. This is a small, somewhat bizarre tidbit from the German election campaigns.
German candidate campaigns on Merkel cleavage
By MELISSA EDDY
Associated Press Writer
BERLIN (AP) -- Debate is raging in Germany over whether a campaign poster using a now infamous photograph of Chancellor Angela Merkel in a deep-cut evening gown is cleverly ironic or downright tacky.
However you see it, the poster is adding some spice to what is shaping up to be an otherwise dull campaign leading up to Sept. 27 German parliamentary elections.
The poster shows a picture of Christian Democrat candidate Vera Lengsfeld, 57, in a low-cut evening gown alongside a well-known 2008 photo of Merkel, the party leader, taken at her appearance at the gala opening of Oslo's opera house.
"We have more to offer," reads the slogan under the revealing photos of the two women's chests - a twist on the Christian Democrats official slogan, "We have the power."
Lengsfeld, a former dissident in what was then East Germany, is vying for a seat in the parliament. She said on her Web page Thursday the poster had attracted more than 31,000 hits.
It has also generated plenty of comments, not all of them positive. Many have charged that it is in poor taste, others have called it a "prostitute poster" and still others have charged it was sexist.
"What is sexist about two women in evening gowns?" Lengsfeld quipped in response.
But many have praised the posters for their quirky irony.
"I have to say one thing," wrote a Peter N. on Thursday. "Angela Merkel is the only chancellor who has become more beautiful during her tenure in office - something that cannot be said about male politicians!"
Merkel declined Thursday to comment on her image on the poster.
"It was Vera Lengsfeld's decision and I think that is enough said," Merkel said in an interview with German radio.
"I would rather discuss the issues on our posters."
At the time the photo from her Oslo gown appeared in newspapers across the globe, she expressed surprise that it attracted so much attention.
--
Associated Press Writer Michael Fischer contributed to this report.
I have to say that I don't get the feeling that debate is actually "raging in Germany", as the article claims - there are a few actual scandals currently going on, and of course the problems with the economy etc., so this really isn't a big issue.
Source.
Awkward to put it in an election campaign, it just shows a lack of class. In the US it's bad enough with the attack ads, I'd be disgusted if they added this kind of stuff.
*Walks off shaking head*
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colber
(English translation: I have no idea what I can say. But I find this article interesting. Thank you.)
As if this country didn't have any other problems...
You know, the images and the perceived "sexism" doesn't really bug me at all. The only thing that does is that this poster doesn't even try to hide its complete emptiness of any political information or facts etc. (which of course is a feature of many of these posters, but most aren't that obvious).
But I do beg to differ: The "Dienstwagenaffäre" caused a very valid discussion and there's hope it will result in some stricter rules. I'd like to see that.
Edited at 2009-08-20 12:12 pm (UTC)
I remember discussing the Clinton scandal with someone from the US (ages ago) and told her that even if Schröder had been caught celebrating orgies in the Bundestag no one would have demanded to remove him, provided he continued to improve the economy. Sure, the Bild-Zeitung would have had a field day (several weeks, even), but the German media most likely wouldn't have mixed his personal life together with his private one.
We're really pretty strict when it comes to that kind of stuff. :-D
(Remember, Schröder even HAD a mistress, and you hardly ever read anything about that. It was always boring politic decisions instead. *gg*)
Our discussion went down the drain somewhat, though, when she told me that it would have been okay for Clinton to have sex in his bedroom, but it was certainly NOT okay to have it in the Oval Office...
And Merkel's response was great. "She wanted to!"
Bush's massage? I think I would have slapped him before even realising who he was.