> If a woman politician were even as ordinary looking as Biden, her supposed lack of attractiveness would be the subject of much comment and probably would be a fatal disqualification. Even women of Hillary's generation had to look pretty good, though not sexy. It's different in other countries, when, e.g., no one would ever accuse Golda Meier or Margaret Thatcher of even looking good.
The British press regularly (well, semi-regularly) complains about the "dowdiness" of their female politicians compared to those on the continent... here's a quick example thrown up by Google: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article3765768.ece
> Gore wasn't bad looking but oozed a standoffish sort of rectitude, no sex appeal at all.
The night of the 1992 election, there were about 15-20 of us sitting in my living room drinking beers and watching the returns, and a couple of the other young women (as we were then) announced that they'd decided that "Al Gore is a babe".
That was a long time ago. In a lot of respects...