Who remembers Stacy’s Mom, hit 2003 single from Fountains of Wayne?

Adam Schlesinger ‘89 and Chris Collingwood ‘89 are founders of the band. Is this theme — sexual attractiveness of older women/mothers — somehow relevant to US politics? Erin Burnett ‘98 thinks so! Context is an overview by Donny Deutche of the Palin candidacy, with special emphasis on her attractiveness.

Erin: You know Donny there is a 4 letter acronym that would apply, but I won’t say it, but it begins with M and ends with F.

Donny: Ends with what?

Erin: Begins with M, ends with F, it’s a four letter acronym, that’s all I can say.

You stay classy, Erin! (See Wikipedia for an explanation of the acronym.) Yet Palin is not the only woman (or person!) to benefit from her good looks. Consider this Eagle article on Burnett.

There is no doubt that Burnett is major ammo for CNBC; she delivers the news, and she becomes it. In some cases, she eclipses it. Watching MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews tell Burnett she was a “knockout” during a recent broadcast was more than embarrassing to some viewers.

James E. Mahon, chairman of Williams College’s political economy program and Burnett’s senior thesis adviser, watched a broadcast of Matthews’ public display of affection toward Burnett and said he found it “disgusting.”

The idea that his former student is simply a “Money Honey” — the oft-used epithet used for attractive business news anchors that implies they’re all looks and no substance — is more than a little irksome.

“She works very hard,” Mahon said. “When she sees a job, she knocks herself out.”

For her senior thesis at Williams, Burnett researched labor standards and product identity, and Mahon helped her work it into form.

Under the title “Complying With International Labor Standards,” an abridged version of the thesis was published in a trade journal in 2001.

Mahon described her as a serious student who didn’t use her good looks as currency.

“She wasn’t a beauty queen,” he said. “She was a field hockey player. She wasn’t going around campus trying to be Miss Glamour.”

If you are as beautiful as Burnett, you do not need to try to be “Miss Glamour.” You already are. Beautiful women, like Burnett and Palin, do not need to try to use their “good looks as currency.” Every time they walk into a room, their good looks come with them. Chris Matthews may be “disgusting,” but his reaction to Burnett’s beauty was only outrageous in its obviousness. (And note that she was wearing purple at the time. Who among us can resist an Eph woman in purple?)

Men like to look at Burnett. You think that she would be on CNBC if she were ugly? And, for the record, the phrase “Money Honey” implies nothing about the “substance” of attractive female CNBC anchors. All CNBC anchors, Burnett included, are highly intelligent and quick on their feet. It just so happens that (most of) the female anchors are also very attractive. Turns out that smart women can be attractive and attractive women can be smart! This should hardly come as news to Ephs. Also, Money Honey is not an “epithet.” Maria Bartiromo has actually trademarked the term!

I don’t know if Professor Mahon finds the term irksome or really thinks that it is an epithet. He seems like a smarter guy than that! Yet I do think that Burnett’s good looks played a part in her rise to fame. And the same is true of Palin. What is interesting is that so many people like to pretend that looks don’t matter, or that they shouldn’t. Alas, it is an imperfect world we live in

Other article highlights below.

Yes, she was sharp-witted, talkative and energetic. And funny.

A “pistol,” in the words of one Williams College administrator.

She also was quick on the field hockey and lacrosse fields. And she was a “nose to the grindstone student,” according to her thesis adviser.

No one was surprised when she became a television star.

Erin Burnett “always had a way with words,” said Dick Quinn, the college’s director of sports information. “Now she gets paid for it.”

Ten years after graduating from Williams with a bachelor’s degree in political economy, Burnett, 32, has become one of the most visible personalities at CNBC, where she co-anchors “Squawk on the Street” from the New York Stock Exchange and hosts “Street Signs,” two of the network’s live business news programs.

The shows broadcast every weekday from 9-11 a.m. and 2-3 p.m., respectively, making Burnett the youngest CNBC anchor to have that much regular airtime. In addition to guest spots on other CNBC shows, she appears regularly on NBC programs such as “Today.”

The network’s decision to give Burnett such a sizable chunk of live airtime between the NYSE’s opening and closing bells can be attributed to her “obvious set of skills (and) her wide appeal,” according to Jonathan Wald, CNBC’s senior vice president of business news.

“She has an interest in her material, and it’s clear she enjoys what she does,” Wald said from CNBC’s studios in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

It’s true; Burnett loves her work, and it shows. Her on-camera demeanor is a magical mix of friendliness and authority that viewers love, and she’s not afraid to poke fun at herself when the red light is on.

During a guest spot on CNBC’s “Stop Trading w/ Jim Cramer” last month, she battled a case of the sniffles while talking stock picks and Hurricane Gustav with Cramer, a Type-A personality gone wild.

As Cramer flailed his arms and referred to Burnett as “Rudolph” (as in “red-nosed”), Burnett kept a poker face.

“I’m a little bit sick,” Burnett said. “Did you notice my nose is red from incessant blowing?”

Long gone are the clipped vowels and cool demeanor of anchors past; Burnett might have flawless looks, but she’s not afraid to let loose with a hoarse “whaddaya watchin’?” when she picks a financial adviser’s brain on “Street Signs.”

The cute asides and on-camera ribbing among guests and anchors are encouraged at CNBC, Wald said, but he noted that Burnett’s ability to “think like a producer” and envision the whole package with a clear point of view give her “authenticity.”

It’s that authenticity that appeals to Burnett, who said she loves live journalism for its ability to bring “voices into the public dialogue.”

Although time and space are at a premium in her business, she gets to present faces, voices, pictures and sound to a global audience.

“(Television) journalism sacrifices (production) time, but I can show a little bit of everything,” Burnett said.

Charles N. Leach, senior investment officer at Berkshire Bank, said Burnett is a “confident, quick study” with a wide breadth of knowledge.

“She has a tough job, because she has to be entertaining but deadly serious at the same time,” Leach said. “We’re at a critical time in the economy.”

Leach said a lot of investment professionals oscillate between CNBC and Bloomberg Business News during the day.

Leach keeps the television volume muted at the office until a guest comes on.

“It’s (Burnett’s) job to draw out the information I need to hear. She has to keep it fresh and compelling,” he said, calling her an “up-and-comer.”

Impressive résumé

Burnett was hired by CNBC in December 2005 after stints as an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co., a writer for CNN’s “Moneyline,” an online media executive at Citigroup, and an anchor at Bloomberg Television.

At CNBC she began sharing co-anchor duties of “Squawk” with Mark Haines. Since she joined the show, viewership has increased 52 percent overall and 130 percent with adults 25 to 54, according to CNBC. “Street Signs” viewership has risen 21 percent since she took over as anchor.

A June 2007 article in The Huffington Post referred to Burnett as a “secret weapon” in the inevitable war between CNBC and the Fox Business Channel.

“She’s a not-so-secret weapon (now),” Wald said. “She’s on the air three hours a day. She’s improving constantly, and she has a desire to keep doing more.”

…

As for Burnett’s celebrity, which has inspired a Web site called ObsessedWithErinBurnett.com and has invited acid-tongued snipes in the tabloid press (when Burnett wrote an article called “8 Ways to Impress Me” that ran in Men’s Health magazine earlier in the year, the New York Post had a field day), Mahon said the attention she receives speaks volumes about the culture and says nothing about the woman.

“I never get used to it,” Burnett said. “The whole people-knowing-who-you-are thing? It’s totally different. I just have to laugh.”

Although Burnett agreed that her rise at CNBC happened quickly, it was her pre-stardom life of crunching numbers for Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bloomberg that prepared her for her good fortune.

“It took me 10 years to become an overnight success,” she said. “Had my life (before CNBC) not happened, everything would have been different. I liked everything I did in my early 20s, but I was willing to jump off the diving board. When we get older, we get a little more risk-averse.”

Burnett also said her “hybrid” college major of political economy, along with her regular consultations with Mahon, prepared her for her work at CNBC.

She said she doesn’t know what she’ll be doing in five years, but for now, television is the right fit.

“It’s the best place for (television) journalists now,” she said, adding that, when she returned from India earlier this year, she was able to weave human interest, business and political stories about the trip for the “Today” show, CNBC and MSNBC.

The Williams influence

Burnett is single with no children, but she has seven nieces and nephews — courtesy of her older sisters, Mara and Laurie, who graduated from Williams in 1988 and 1991, respectively.

Whenever the sisters and their children get together, everyone is decked out in purple Williams gear.

Especially the little ones, Burnett said.

“I always ask (my sisters), ‘How many non-Williams-branded children’s clothes do you have?” she said, laughing.

Burnett, who hails from Mardela Springs, Md., said she returns to her alma mater at least once a year. Among her favorite memories of Williamstown are hiking at Mount Hope and the four years she spent on the Williams field hockey team.

Chris Mason, then Williams’ head coach in lacrosse and field hockey, recalls Burnett fondly.

“She was very quick and fast,” Mason said. “A good scorer.”

Mason then told a story about Burnett: The field hockey team had reached the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time, and Mason got to break the exciting news to the team.

“I told them, ‘I have good news and bad news. The good news is we made the tournament,’ ” Mason said. ” ‘The bad news is that we have to take a bus (to the competition) in Salisbury, Maryland. They won’t let us fly down.’ ”

Mason said most team members were silent, “digesting” the news about the long bus drive.

The only one making noise was Burnett.

“Erin was jumping up and down going ‘Wooo!’ ” Mason said, laughing. “She was saying, ‘That’s near my house! We can go for dinner!’

“That was no stuffy money analyst.”

UPDATE: Apologies! I forgot to credit Dan Gerlanc ‘07 for the video link and Dick Quinn for the Eagle article suggestion.

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