Cutting-Edge Leadership

Unfortunately we (the US) are not known for being a real deep nation as a whole. On a personal note I actually used to know a guy that voted for a president because he prefered the sound of his last name (candidate A) to the other guy's last name (candidate B). I said to him maybe he should at least listen to one debate to see where these two stood on the issues. His reply was they were all full of baloney so it didn't matter but he liked this guy's last name better. So this is the world we live in. LOL. Also you have to remember there are people that don't pay attention to anything to do with politics and pretty much just go with whatever way the wind is blowing. I've known people like that too. If the people in their office are voting for this guy then they vote for that guy. Sheep.

In the (tendentious - although I daresay you weren't trying to be partisan, but you ought to have balanced it out with a quote from the very many made about Obama's appearance) quote about the tall-standing Texan, as a psychologist you obviously know that a person's mindset influences their physical appearance to a large degree. This might not be true of the hair (although the care of the hair is influenced by the mindset), but it certainly is about 'standing tall' and 'talking straight', etc.
I'm not going on the line for Perry. I am not American and don't live there, thank God.
A person's attitude and mindset affect his or her appearance, and this impact is wisely taken into account.
Had you developed and refined your argument, applying stereotyping and xenophobia, I think it would have been much more significant. As it is (taken with the comment about campaigning early), it came off as a partisan snipe, and if so then merely to be ignored. Although, again, I daresay that wasn't your intention.

.. get used to it.

The whole idea that everything is "partisan" is bs. There is such a thing as truth Ian.

I voted based entirely on how I felt when the candidate spoke. The reason I did this is because so much of the political arena these days is purely cosmetic. Rare is it that any politico actually does anything in a way that constitutes integrity.

There is a great clip in the movie "Adjustment Bureau" where Matt Damon is campaigning for senator where he is giving a speech right after meeting the women he is destined to be with where he feels so disillusioned about what he is doing that he "goes off the deep end" and actually tells the truth the real truth, about his shoes. If you haven't seen the movie/clip you wouldn't appreciate what I'm saying. Suffice to say as a young adult I feel manipulated by candidates who are trying to get my vote.

The biggest reason I feel this way is because most candidates, like Las Vegas casinos will fabricate an illusion a perfect picture they can show you and they go to great lengths to make the illusion convincing. The sad fact is that candidates know that they are attempting to win your vote and like many posters have already stated most average americans don't pay particularly close attention to government unless it's an issue that affects them personally/directly. So most americans vote primarily through superficial means.

Candidates know this and what that means is that even if the runner knows he's a complete tool all he has to do is make their picture shinier then their opponent's or degrade their opponents illusion aka muckrake. This is obvious in the fact that a candidate never say's "I was wrong" instead saying "those statements were never meant to be factual" because image manipulation aka PR aka "spin" says that wrongful admission is political anathema.

Now this sounds really cynical and depressing but for the most part it's true. Now there is a solution a "fix" if you will but it's a difficult one to pull off the fix is an informed population an America thats willing to give the truth and Americans who can both discern it and punish when it's not given.