Thats notKabuki

Talking Points Memo has an article on winners and losers in the first 100 days of the new congress.  Number three on the winners list is Kabuki Theater, referring to the posturing and posing of political pundits and personalities.  I won't argue the legitimacy of the metaphor, it's a common enough one, but the image?



Sorry Mr. Marshall, but that's notKabuki.  For starters, those are women, and all Kabuki performers are male.  Then there's the makeup; the metaphor came about because of the exaggerated character of Kabuki performance, most easily seen in the facepaint.  Like this:



At a guess, given the backdrop and the styles of the kimono, I'd say they're probably Maiko, a term that technically refers to an apprentice geisha but these days is used to refer to anyone performing that style of traditional dance.