Wednesday, October 15, 2008
 Excerpted from The Washington Post: "A New Wrinkle (or Unwrinkle) in the Campaign: The Biden Brow
By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Monday, October 13, 2008
Joe Biden looks . . . different.
Something about his eyes, which seem smaller, and his forehead, which seems smoother. Compared with images from last year, he seems better rested -- yet also, strangely, a little sleepier.
Or go to YouTube: In the July 2007 CNN debate, his face turned sharp and keen with his impassioned call to send troops to Darfur, a frustrated pair of vertical lines in his brow as he described the suffering of refugees. This month, debating Sarah Palin, we heard similar anger in his voice about a lack of funding in Afghanistan -- but saw a tranquil brow.
Karen Bradley, a University of Maryland professor who studies politicians' body movement and what it conveys to voters, says it's "a little strange that nothing moves from his eyes on up" -- since she otherwise finds Biden a compelling communicator who powerfully telegraphs his conviction on a topic via other body language.
Barry Cohen, a Rockville plastic surgeon, is more blunt. "He clearly has had Botox," the doctor, a Republican, told us. "The lines are gone on his forehead. There is no way makeup or surgery could do that." Georgetown spa owner Erwin Gomez, who knows his way around some of D.C.'s most scrupulously groomed faces, agrees: "On the right and the left temple, you can see the lines, but he has no wrinkles in the forehead." He suspects the senator had a shot of Botox in his brow to disable his scowl muscle -- which can also bring an unwanted heaviness to the eyelids.
Well? "Completely untrue, completely unsubstantiated," said Biden spokesman David Wade. . .
And if he did choose to try the 'tox -- hey, so what, because, supposedly, everyone is doing it these days! D.C. dermatologist Tina Alster declined to assess any one VIP face ("I know too many of them"), but among her political clientele, as many men as women are getting Botox -- Republicans and Democrats alike. She had to cut her summer vacation short to meet the surge in demand before the conventions. "People who knew they were going to be on TV," she explained. Oh, and not just politicians: journalists, too. Even grubby print journalists, who increasingly fill the ranks of the 24-7 cable punditocracy...
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