That last point from the ever-grating Piers Morgan encapsulates everything wrong with this makeup vs. no-makeup debate.
But the Democrats -- ostensibly the party of Hollywood -- are as clueless about the medium that can make or break them as the Republicans were when they let Richard Nixon go before a camera without makeup when debating John Kennedy in 1960.
Other errors by the Gore campaign during those two weeks, which included poor makeup for one debate that gave Mr. Gore an orange tint, helped Mr. Bush gain a strong edge in polls for "likability".
But Nixon's narrow loss in the election may have involved more than just his poor makeup during the debates.
There were two promising elements in the makeup of tonight's debate.
The issue of lead in makeup continues to be debated in the cosmetics industry, particularly with regard to the small amounts of lead found in some lipsticks.
One week before the election, Ariel Sharon, the right-wing leader, holds such a seemingly invincible lead over Prime Minister Ehud Barak that many Israelis have already moved on to debating the makeup of Mr. Sharon's future government.
But Nixon mopped his sweat, and somehow TV audiences saw it as a TKO by J.F.K. See how far we've come with man makeup and rejudge the debates of nearly 50 years ago at the amazing Prelinger Collection of vintage film: www.archive.org/details/1960_kennedy-nixon_1.
The key issue of debate is the makeup of the Palestinian delegation.
