The Washington Post was mocked after publishing a dramatic profile of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on May 14.
WaPo’s profile includes a long description comparing Abrams, who has been pitching herself as Joe Biden’s running mate pick, to “a runway supermodel.” It is titled “The Power of Stacey Abrams” and claims Abrams “has moved quickly to political prominence.”
The article also says that “whether or not she’s chosen as Biden’s running mate,” Abrams “has moved into a unique space in American politics.”
“Pandemonium ensues as she [Abrams] walks to the far left of the stage, like a runway supermodel, stops on a dime, poses, tilts her head slightly and smiles,” WaPo’s profile on Abrams reads. “Camera flashes explode. She next pivots and walks slowly to the center of the stage, freezes there and repeats the pose. Again, the flashes explode. Abrams is summoning her inner actress, and she is both enjoying the moment and getting through it to get to the conversation.”
“She then pivots and walks to the far right of the stage, same. You wonder whether she has done this before, because it is not necessarily what one would expect from a 46-year-old politician who was nearly elected the first black female governor in U.S. history.”
Abrams’s feature in WaPo sparked many to mock the publication’s “bizarre” piece on the vice presidential hopeful.
“Have any Wash Post reporters resigned in embarrassment this morning?” Stephen L. Miller, host of the “Versus Media Podcast” on Patreon, tweeted Sunday morning. “No? Cool, so we’re all on board with supermodel Stacey Abrams then.”
“How does something like this even make it past editors who care about their reputations?” Miller wrote in another tweet, highlighting the paragraph where Abrams is compared to a supermodel.
How is every journalist employed by the Washington Post not named Jennifer Rubin not completely embarrassed by this Stacey Abrams profile. How does something like this even make it past editors who care about their reputations? pic.twitter.com/yqpSeTnBbM
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 17, 2020
Josh Jordan pointed out the superhero-like image of Abrams included in the piece, which shows her wearing a flowing cap against a godly background. (RELATED: Biden Punts Abrams As Veep Pick After O’Donnell Asks Him To Announce)
“The desire from so many in the media to make Abrams into a larger than life superhero is bizarre and telling,” Jordan tweeted.
I can not believe this is a real image that the Washington Post used in their profile on Stacey Abrams.
The desire from so many in the media to make Abrams into a larger than life superhero is bizarre and telling. You’ll never see a conservative woman get this kind of coverage. pic.twitter.com/ojDGy6K17Y
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) May 17, 2020
I am now measuring time via the publication of Stacey Abrams profiles; How are you this Abrams the 4th? We haven’t spoken since two Abrams past…
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) May 17, 2020
New York Post reporter Jon Levine wrote that it was “disturbing that so many of my colleagues at other news orgs don’t realize how bad this kind of hagiography makes us look.”
The comments included assurances that the piece is, in fact, real. The profile was written by left-wing activist Kevin Powell, who has made numerous unsuccessful runs for Congress. Powell said on his LinkedIn before publication that it was “a big piece” about Abrams, whom he described as “a visionary leader.”
“Been incredible witnessing her in action,” Powell declared.