The straight-ahead shot of Michele Bachmann on the cover of this week's Newsweek, taken by freelance photographer Chris Buck in a Washington, D.C., hotel room, “raises eyebrows,” according to The Huffington Post. “There’s no denying that Bachmann firmly believes what she believes. Some might think she’s crazy because of it. Cover photos like this one help to cement that image,” wrote The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart. “It’s sexist,” NOW president Terry O’Neill told The Daily Caller. “Casting her in that expression and then adding ‘The Queen of Rage’ I think [it is]. Gloria Steinem has a very simple test: If this were done to a man or would it ever be done to a man—has it ever been done to a man? Surely this has never been done to a man.” (Steinem was actually featured in the same issue of Newsweek). Said Newsweek editor in chief Tina Brown in a statement, “Michele Bachmann’s intensity is galvanizing voters in Iowa right now and Newsweek’s cover captures that." Many of the photographs taken for the feature showed Bachmann with similar intensity. Here are more images from the shoot, including some used inside the magazine, showing Bachmann in the nation’s capital and on the trail in Iowa.
– Newsweek's Michele Bachmann story this week came with a highly unflattering cover photo, even drawing criticism from some of the GOP hopeful's foes. Jon Stewart also slammed the magazine for the choice of photo, accusing Newsweek of adding weight to conservative claims of liberal media bias. "One thing you cannot say about Michele Bachmann is that she is not photogenic," the Daily Show host said. "Be honest, Newsweek," he said. "You used that photo in a petty attempt to make Michele Bachmann look crazy. And that's what her words are for." Newsweek hasn't apologized for the choice of photo, despite the controversy. Bachmann's "intensity is galvanizing voters in Iowa right now, and Newsweek’s cover captures that," editor Tina Brown said. The magazine offered critics a selection of outtakes from the Bachmann photo shoot.