July 4, 2007

"There you were, Mr. Elevate-Cronyism-Over-The-Rule-of-Law, sitting on a stool right behind me in that look-at-me Crayola yellow shirt..."

Maureen Dowd writes about my favorite '08 election topic: the problem of how to wring positive value out of Bill Clinton without getting any of his negative on Hillary. (TimesSelect link.)

Yes, did you see those photos of Bill and Hillary in Iowa, with him in that bright yellow shirt? We all know yellow is the color of hope, and Bill is the man from Hope, and Hillary's name begins with H but her image is not so much one of hope but of grim resignation. Obama is the candidate who embodies hope. (It's the main thing he does!) So, naturally they put a bright yellow shirt on Bill.

The end of Dowd's piece is a riff I think we'll hear her riff quite a few times: Bill will want to have trysts in the White House. How is the Hillary Clinton campaign going to try to keep people from thinking about that when they imagine Bill as the first First Gentleman? It looks like what they're doing is having him appear alongside her, acting out his role as proper husband. But, as Dowd notes, everyone is going to be scrutinizing him to see if it's genuine, and if everyone's looking at him, how will he not be too distracting?
“Sweetie,” [Hillary] says, smiling brightly. “Everything’s going really well. You abide by your five-minute limit and talk only about me. You’re still having a little trouble getting that adoring smile down. In fact, on our first stop you actually looked bored and fidgety while I was talking. But I think we solved that problem today by having you leave the stage as soon as I start speaking. If you can just refrain from looking so longingly at the microphone, our pas de deux will be perfect!”

CORRECTION: I called Bill's shirt a polo shirt. The shirt actually buttoned all the way down the front and had long sleeves. Which I recommend.

35 comments:

dave™© said...

I see Blithering Misogynist Idiot is already well into her first box of wine...

Bissage said...

It's been fifteen years, at least, since he's gotten his negative on Hillary.

Monica's a different story.

steve simels said...

Oh lordy.

Maureen and Ann really deserve each other.

The inane leading the jejune.

Ruth Anne Adams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ricpic said...

Splatter that negative
On that dress,
Evidence positive --
Bill's behest.

Peter Hoh said...

Was he really wearing a polo shirt? I saw a photo of Bill in a long-sleeved yellow shirt with buttons all down the front. As best I know, polo shirts have short sleeves and only a few buttons at the top.

Cedarford said...

Maureen Dowd writes about my favorite '08 election topic: the problem of how to wring positive value out of Bill Clinton without getting any of his negative on Hillary.

I think the central asset and problem for Hillary is Bill Clinton.

If she went overboard and said she was "her own woman" yadayada...and Bill C would have no White House role but ceremonial ones, her approval and support would drop 20 points. Many people backing Hillary back her because they think the team Bill Clinton put together running the country worked out pretty good. They are effectively voting for Bill.

The negative is not at all about Bill's moral sleaze and BJ. FDR, JFK, LBJ, Nixon all had scads of moral sleaze in their Admins besides Bubba. Only Nixon paid for it. No, the negatives really start with the reality that without Bill, his wife would not have been elected Senator and would have no shot at big fundraising and being President on her own merits. She'd just be another Mosely-Braun or Diane Feinstein or Liddy Dole - finding that no one was much interested in a one-term Senator.

Hillary's biggest challenge is to show voters she has more experience and leadership ability than the Magic Negro who will absolve big bucks liberals of all their sins if he is elected.

At least we don't have to worry about Laura Bush attempting to continue the Bush-Clinton dynastic politics.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Does not look like a polo shirt to me. Maybe Dowd was drinking?

Here is a link to the photo:

http://sharpshooters.blogspot.com/2007/07/match-made-in-hell.html

Ann Althouse said...

Only I called it a polo shirt. From memory. Will correct.

steve simels said...

MSNBC just reported on a missing young white woman in Madison, Wisconsin.

Anybody looked in Ann's basement lately?

Troy said...

Ann,

Without any of the idiotic animosity (for the life of me I have not a hint of how you engender that)... do people even read Mo Dowd anymore? She was almost unreadable before she went behind the veil of Times Select. If you actually pay to read her, then God bless you for taking one for the team (your commenters).

steve simels said...

Troy said...
Ann,

Without any of the idiotic animosity (for the life of me I have not a hint of how you engender that)...


I'll give you a hint.

Who here combines the intellectual incoherence of Camille Paglia and the breathy self-importance of Peggy Noonan?

And here's another one.

Her initials are A.A.

Bissage said...

Thank you, oh, thank you Mr. Simels!

I haven’t heard the word “jejune” used since Woody Allen’s “Love and Death.”

Now understand, he was making fun of it, but wielded in your mighty hand, it’s a terrible swift sword!

You really are a super-talented, well-established POP MUSIC CRITIC, after all!

GO GET ’EM, TIGER!!!

Let the jejune tremble in fear, the mighty steve simels in near!

(That's right, let the jejune jetremble in jefear, all the jemonths of the jeyear!)

PeterP said...

We all know yellow is the color of hope...

We do? As a good Catlick our colour of hope of choice is green.

Insanity, falsehood, decadence, cowardice, greed...just some of the cultural significances of yellow.

OK, enlightenment to a Buddhist monk, but then is Clinton that? Sheez! We should be told.

Modern Buddhists do sometimes smoke - maybe even cigars - though the Dalai Lama for one strongly disapproves as you might imagine he would.

AllenS said...

Green is the color of go.

Yellow is the color of caution.

Red is the color of stop.

Taken from the Rules of Traffic Lights.

Meade said...

hott[pink]4hill

Tim said...

Despite Podhoretz's "grim resignation," I'm not convinced the Hillary! wins.

First, polls conclusively indicate more than half the voters are committed to voting against her. That's a problem, esp. if a third party candidate fails to materialize or draw any appreciable support.

Second, the commander in chief of the war on global warming, Gore, could have the Dem nomination just by announcing. The union bosses are terrified by the prospects of the Hillary! losing; they'll flip to Gore as a smart business decision. Gore's road to the White House, if nominated, is probably shorter and smoother than for any other candidate, in either party. The media paroxysm of joy for Gore would be immense, and would cloud what remains of journalistic integrity through inauguration day.

Otherwise, yeah, the imagery of Bill C. shagging B-list socialite sluts in the Lincoln Bedroom certainly doesn't accrue to the Hillary!'s benefit, for so many reasons.

Laura Reynolds said...

Maureen Dowd? Is she a blogger, I know her from somewhere?

Hey Simels, how's the impeachment drive working out? Since besides being a well established POP MUSIC CRITIC, you are the arbiter of truth, justice and the American Way, we are looking forward to your efforts.

The Bill and Hill show, great recruitment tool for the Secret Service.

Anonymous said...

Hope, as in always hoping to get theirs.

In Clinton administrations, marriage is political alliance and affairs of state, sexual dalliance. There’s nothing new about that, of course, but Hill & Bill have managed to make it more obvious and coarser. Their approach to transparency in government is to expose their naked lust for power and satisfaction in their parallel lives as a couple of convenience (and mutual blackmail, no doubt).

But, what Bill negatives? It’s just the hateful rightwingers who’ve conspired to make something out of a little nothing lie and the puritanical christocrats who are uptight about personal s-e-x and boyish behavior, her handlers will say. I think Hillary will try to appeal based on doing the “business” of the nation and downplay the importance of private misbehavior. Sure, it's a little annoying that feminists once declared that the personal IS political… and that some of us voters think sneaky sleaziness doesn’t stop at the bedroom door… and that socialist third-way Progs are better suited to running Seattle’s city council than our nation…

But I'm afraid the media and fractured Republican base will elect them, despite.

dave™© said...

Maureen and Ann really deserve each other.

The inane leading the jejune.


I was going to say "the embittered leading the hag," but you're right, too!

dave™© said...

You really are a super-talented, well-established POP MUSIC CRITIC, after all!

Strong words from a fry dropper of your caliber.

Meade said...

Watch the Fox video. They both wore polo shirts. His was green, hers was yellow.

Ann Althouse said...

steve simels said..."MSNBC just reported on a missing young white woman in Madison, Wisconsin. Anybody looked in Ann's basement lately?"

It is contemptible to make a joke about a young woman who people here are distraught about. Disgusting. You filthy creep.

Adrian said...

you know, when even your semi-deranged stalkers compare you to Camille Paglia, you must be doing something right!

Bissage said...

No, no, no, Mr. dave™©, don’t say “the embittered leading the hag, . . .”

That’s not nearly good enough for a damn fine POP MUSIC CRITIC, such as Mr. Simels.

Let me show you how it’s done: “the embittered leading the hag with the money.

It’s a traditional Irish jig.

Mr. Simels would have gotten the joke right away because he’s real smart and because he’s a POP MUSIC CRITIC.

And you two could have laughed and laughed and laughed.

But it's too late, baby now, it's too late.

Better luck next time!!!

And always remember, be like Mr. Simels and accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative!

(You'll be so glad, you're so glad, you're glad, you're glad, you're glad!)

Bissage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bissage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bissage said...

I never heard “fry dropper” before, but from the context I figured it was a derogatory term for someone employed by a fast-food restaurant. To be sure, I looked it up. And I figured right.

But guess what else I found?

And remember, kids – every day is Ignore the Moronic Brownshirt Fucks Day!

Every brownshirt you ignore is another fry-dropper working at Jack-in-the-Box tomorrow. It’s a fact.

dave | Homepage | 03.08.05 – 11:15 am | #


(Here’s the link: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/atrios/111029640540539303/.)

You know dave™©, you really shouldn’t make fun of people just because they work in a fast-food restaurant.

That’s illiberal and people might think you’re a mean-spirited snob of a conservative.

vnjagvet said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
vnjagvet said...

You know you are hitting home, Ann when the trolls get so over the top and personal.

Hillary!'s cynicism is unlimited. One of the real scandals of Bill's presidency was the non-sexual last-day raft of pardons.

Relatives, FOBs, The Rich (literally), full pardons all and money going into the Clinton Foundation or rewards for silence. Cronyism writ large.

GWB is Bush League when compared to the likes of Bill.

James said...

"The shirt actually buttoned all the way down the front and had long sleeves. Which I recommend."

Unless, of course, you're playing polo.

Ann Althouse said...

Adrian: "you know, when even your semi-deranged stalkers compare you to Camille Paglia, you must be doing something right!"

Yeah, just in this one thread, people are insulting me by saying I'm like Paglia, Dowd, and Noonan. Best insults ever. Thanks, guys.

And I love Bissage's new hobby of dogging Simel:

"I haven’t heard the word “jejune” used since Woody Allen’s “Love and Death.” Now understand, he was making fun of it, but wielded in your mighty hand, it’s a terrible swift sword! You really are a super-talented, well-established POP MUSIC CRITIC, after all! GO GET ’EM, TIGER!!! Let the jejune tremble in fear, the mighty steve simels in near! (That's right, let the jejune jetremble in jefear, all the jemonths of the jeyear!)"

I'm jeLOL.

Ruth Anne Adams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
skaus said...

Was Bill sticking his chest out?

Julie and Janet said...

Hey, yeah, Bill looks all bright and earnest in his yellow shirt. But, Hillary, wow, oh, the pain, the orange, the lowered neckline. What were her handlers thinking??