June 8, 2016

"The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee."

Said Hillary Clinton, last night, proclaiming her individual historicity and immediately including everyone else:
Tonight's victory is not about one person.

It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible. In our country, it started right here in New York, a place called Seneca Falls in 1848 where a small but determined group of women and men...
She put a little special, comical stress on "and men"...
... came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights and they set it forth in something called the Declaration of Sentiments* and it was first time in human history that that kind of declaration occurred. 
I hear an echo of Barack Obama's It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation....
So we all owe so much to those who came before and tonight belongs to all of you....

So yes. Yes...
... Yes, we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.
... there are still ceilings to break for women and men for all of us.
The metaphor that won't go away. Broken ceilings don't sound inherently good, and I wonder how many people remember (if they ever knew) why, in that metaphor, breaking part of a building is supposed to be good.
But don't let anyone tell you that great things can't happen in America. Barriers can come down. Justice and equality can win. Our history has moved in that direction. Thanks to generations of Americans who refuse to give up or back down.

Now you are writing a new chapter of that story.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure....
This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings...
No ceilings?!
... no limits on any of us and this is our moment to come together. Join our campaign. Contribute what you can... Now I'm going to take a moment later tonight...
So this is the moment... but there's another that's going to happen later. Mixing up the moments. Where's the poetry? I'm hearing an echo of Obama again. "Moment" is an Obama word... This was the moment...
... and the days ahead to fully absorb the history we've made here. 
That's just an unnecessary lie. She's been working so long to get this nomination she's wanted so badly. It's not believable that she's going to spend time in an effort to fully absorb the history. But, obviously, somebody decided the theme of the speech should be history, and it was flabbily fleshed out.
______________________

* I cut and pasted the text from Vox, but I've corrected the transcript. Vox, with sublime ignorance, wrote "the declaration of sent." At least they didn't write "the declaration of scent." From the video, Hillary's enunciation of "sentiments" is clear, and you'd think basic pride would force a transcriber to google the name of the Seneca Falls document. Oh, Vox.

105 comments:

traditionalguy said...

Hillary needs to do her ad shots in black and white the better to emphasize in film noir the history of women in second class citizenship, which really ended before her career got started as a politicians wife.

Imagine it!

David Begley said...

Actually a well-written speech for Hillary. But I choked when she described how she was concerned about others. She is in politics solely for herself.

Nice catch by Althouse re the borrowing from Obama, Lincoln and others.

pm317 said...

According to some people, Hillary is not even human let alone a woman. 2008 and 8 years later, I am happy this happened and it is sad that so many do not want to give her her due. White men first, Black man next, and then woman. But we won't rejoice because she is a vampire or something.

Anonymous said...

While I think it is great that a woman has finally made it to the top of the political world, I both:

1. had hoped that it would be a woman that got there on her own merits, and

2. am disgusted that it is a lying, incompetent, crook.

PS: In 2008, I supported Hillary over Obama, because though I disliked nearly all her policies, I thought she was more competent and experienced than Obama...

Birkel said...

pm317:

We won't rejoice because she will perpetuate the policies of the Obama Administration which have made Americans poorer and more indebted.

Tell those lies elsewhere.

rhhardin said...

Whenever you hear of a first woman to do something, it's because men did it already.

shiloh said...

She's not gonna run for the senate.

She's not gonna run for president in 2008.

She's not gonna run for president in 2016.

She's not gonna win the nomination.

She'll be indicted ...

Hillary Clinton will never be president!

Keep hope alive!

rhhardin said...

Think of ceilings as supported by standards.

Amadeus 48 said...

The World holds its breath...could this be the moment? Could this BE the moment? Could this be the MOMENT? COULD this be the moment? COULD THIS BE THE F*CKING MOMENT??

The World exhales...the World inhales...the World exhales...the World inhales...

The World has gone to sleep.

Once written, twice... said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

Women's history month should be followed by men's history month, celebrating the invention of everything.

Once written, twice... said...

Democrats are the party of historic Firsts.

Republicans are the party of Donald Trump.

rhhardin said...

First women sent to Mars is something Hillary could try. I assume Venus is out.

Rusty said...

Typical.
"Why are you voting for Hillary?"

"Because it's about time we had a woman as president.


This is the deep thinking that got us Obama.

shiloh said...

"Republicans are the party of Donald Trump."

This has to be some kind of historic first.

First party to nominate a billionaire.

First party to nominate a reality show host.

First party to nominate a birther.

First party to nominate someone who invited the other party's nominee to his third wedding.

Please feel free to add to my list ...

Paul said...

Like Obama, whose only qualification was that he was "Black", and has been an abject failure as President. Hillary's only qualification is that she's a woman, I would expect a similar outcome as Obama as President...

rhhardin said...

Hillary is the first cunt to be nominated by a major party. You can't assume gender identification any longer. You have to go with the plumbing.

This is an improvement in the naming of celebrations.

rhhardin said...

Trump should run as a woman.

He has the sense of humor to pull it off.

MadisonMan said...

Has there also been -- in the past -- a Major Party nominee who won the nomination with the threat of an indictment looming?

That might be a first as well.

David Begley said...

What Paul said, but she will sell out the country for her own personal benefit. She already has.

damikesc said...

To paraphrase Ann Coulter, anybody who says

Tonight's victory is not about one person.

...is only saying that it is ALL about them.

Keep hope alive!

Maybe she'll die soon.

One can only hope, right?

Democrats are the party of historic Firsts.

First party to have a President lie in a deposition.
First party to have a President disbarred.
First party to intentionally arm drug cartels to restrict the rights of Americans
First party to intentionally leave diplomats to die
First party to condone the IRS attacking Americans.
First party to have its EPA cause a massive ecological catastrophe.


Lewis Wetzel said...

So, I guess in the hierarchy of firsts, it is white men, Irish men, then Black men, then women. This puts Mexicans and Jews after women. Racist Democrats.

pm317 said...

@rhhardin ..

a man using the c word on a mostly respectable blog of a woman law professor.. says more about the man than anything else.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger damikesc said...
. . . Maybe she'll die soon.

I kind of feel sorry for her. I can't imagine her happy. Bill Clinton, yes, Bush I and II, yes, Obama, yes. Happy, happy, happy. But Hillary just seems sad and angry all of the time. Crappy way to go through life.

Laslo Spatula said...

"... there are still ceilings to break for women and men for all of us."

Some ceilings are for breaking, but some:
 some are for dancing.

I am Laslo.

Wince said...

What about the optics of Hillary supporters behind her holding up a sign that says "History" with one of those H's with an arrow.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/06/08/hillary-clinton-wins-calif-primary/68d9nMfsFeJUXmQUruXRpN/story.html

Tommy Duncan said...

Will Hillary run as a diversity choice? Sort of like the "wise Latina" who makes better decisions because of her different life experience?

Or will Hillary run as the feminist "equal and identical but better" candidate?

rhhardin said...

A new google service

What rhymes with cunt

Words that rhyme with cunt: (43 results) 1 syllable: blunt, brunt, bunt, bunte, front, glunt, grint, grinte, grunt, hundt, hunt, hunte, jundt, klundt, lundt, lunt, mundt, munt, printf, pundt, punt, quinte, runte, shunt, skint, sprunt, strunt, stunt, sundt.

There seems to be a software problem. Printf is especially suspicious.

shiloh said...

Reps

First party to have a president resign in disgrace!

First party to sell arms for hostages.

First party to have a former president not show up at their convention (3) times in a row.

First party to have a president with a 90% Gallup approval rating, but leave office w/a 25% approval rating! This same president had a historic high 69% disapproval rating!

First party to have a president cut and run from Beirut, Lebanon when a Marine barracks was attacked and 220 Marines, 18 sailors and 3 soldiers died.

This is fun, please continue ...

jaydub said...

Never has squeaking past an old, bitter commie generated such lofty, inspiring rhetoric - except maybe when Khrushchev did it in 1953. And, she was the first woman!! Even more impressive if she also turns out to be the first member of the LGBT community to get there. Not to mention first convicted felon. So many potential firsts out there for the taking.

Lewis Wetzel said...

There is something in Hillary Clinton's closet.
It has been there for eight years.
"It" is a pant suit covered with gold sequins. It cost forty thousand dollars. She calls it "the gold sequin pant suit" because she isn't very creative. Hillary will wear it on the day she is sworn as Madame President.
Huma is at work right now, hand polishing every single one of those thousands of sequins.

Inga said...


Eh, you people deserve Trump. To completely negate a historical first and ignore the realization that yes indeed a barrier was broken by the nomination of a woman to the Presidency is to be ignorant or worse. It took this long to happen in the most advanced nation on earth and it's blown off as insignificant by a woman herself. So damn what if she, Clinton, makes comments that reminded you of things that Obama said. In both instances a ceiling was indeed broken. If broken ceilings scare you that much, then you do indeed deserve Trump who promises to keep women in their pig pens, Hispanics behind the wall, the disabled in their social isolation, the veterans who were captured back in chains, Muslims out of the US and on national registries. Yes Trumps buildings have ceilings, walls and basements, don't forget the basements, that's where he dwells.

Lewis Wetzel said...

There was indeed a barrier broken in 2016. We now know that entirely unsuitable people can be elected to lead either party! All three parties if you include the Libertarians!
There is hope for all of us who wanted to run for president, but knew that we couldn't hide our incompetence and reptilian character from the voters.

rhhardin said...

Trump's there to smash political correctness.

Unless he folds.

Larry J said...

Other than being a Vagino-American, Hillary has nothing to recommend her for the presidency. She was the long-time wife of the governor of Arkansas. For 8 years, she was the wife of the president. What exactly were her accomplishments in her brief senate tenure? How about as Secretary of State? Due to the corruption in DC, she's likely to get away with things that would've cost the rest of us with security clearances our jobs and likely our freedom.

Sydney said...

Too bad she's someone who has shown nothing but incompetence in all of her public jobs as well as a reckless disregard for the safety of the country she supposedly represents. Imagine if a bank executive had his own private server separate from the bank servers to conduct his banking business, how would that go for him?

Amadeus 48 said...

Miriam, you bring me to tears. You sound like you loved Margaret Thatcher because she was a woman. It's funny, most of the people on the left didn't like her. I loved her.

Inga said...

Trump does suit the conservative base, doesn't he? Trump is a reflection of that base who put him where he stands now. So why is there so much squirming, as if you are covered in some disgusting after effects of a Trump bacchanal and not liking how it makes you stink? Reeks of racism, bigotry and misogyny. Trump is what you deserve, but the rest of us won't let you drag us down with you.

Tommy Duncan said...

Miriam said: "To completely negate a historical first and ignore the realization that yes indeed a barrier was broken by the nomination of a woman to the Presidency is to be ignorant or worse."

The rational among us tend to focus on results and character rather than sex or race. I thought the idea was to render the sex and race of candidates moot.

What a small existence to have your person totally defined by sexual or racial identity.

PB said...

Good thing she said "major" party because she's NOT the first woman to head the ticket of national party (on all 50 state ballots). That occurred in 1988 when Lenora Fulani let the charge for the New Alliance Party. It appears that Hillary isn't really breaking the glass ceiling that much. Merely pushing away the shards of already cracked glass?

Besides, isn't some sort of social justice offense to exhibit pride in one's birth gender evoking an undeserved privilege?

chickelit said...

Hillary's claim (and Obama's too) is like those annoying blog commenters who write "first!" It would be cute if their aftermaths weren't so toxic.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Shiloh - she's corrupt.

Inga said...

I respected Margaret Thatcher for being the first woman Prime Minister of a powerful nation, she did break that nation's cieling. One can at least give that much respect, even if disagreeing with the politics. What I read here in Althouse's blog post and from the majority of the commentariat is mean spirited and ignorant.

David Begley said...

Hillary would be a historic first if elected. She would be the first unindicted criminal. Gender has nothing to do with her historic nature.

Inga said...

"The rational among us tend to focus on results and character rather than sex or race. I thought the idea was to render the sex and race of candidates moot.

What a small existence to have your person totally defined by sexual or racial identity."

One moment of giving credit where credit is due doesn't render your legitimate disagreements with Clinton's politics moot. No one is asking you to agree with her politics simply because she is a woman. No one asked you to agree with Obama's politics simply because he is biracial. If you can't understand that, you do indeed deserve Trump.

wildswan said...

There are executive orders criminalizing the statement that Hillary (or anyone else) is a woman, especially on Federal territory like bathrooms. But opposing identity politics is hate crime on other Federal territory like college campuses. So supporting Hillary as the first woman President is a crime in campus bathrooms AND it is another, different crime not to commit the crime of supporting Hillary as first women President on college campuses as a whole (including bathrooms). My advice is, just don't get anxious about it and go into a bathroom in Madison, wearing or not wearing a Hillary button. Either is fatal in Dane County. Or you could just say were from Crete and all Cretans are liars so when you said you supported Hillary as the first women President you meant...

David said...

Oh the tangled webs we weave.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Now I'm going to take a moment later tonight... and the days ahead to fully absorb the history we've made here"

Major Vodka bender coming.

Of course it is.

I am Laslo.

Fernandinande said...

sentiment: A thought, view, or attitude, especially one based mainly on emotion instead of reason.

Go grrrls!

rhhardin said...

Women as a historic gender ought to be subdivided into women and old women, even just considering plumbing.

rhhardin said...

Hillary is not the first resento-american to run for president though. So many non-firsts at the same time.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I don't think of Hillary as a woman. I think of her as a power-obsessed criminal.

rhhardin said...

We don't divide men into men and old men, even though Ryan is a voice of inexperience. He's a take-charge voice of inexperience.

rhhardin said...

Hillary doesn't want power. She wants the position.

Lewis Wetzel said...

All those who believe that Hillary deserves some praise as a 'ceiling breaker' should consider where Hillary would be if she hadn't married Bill Clinton.
The worst thing about drafting a person to be your 'first' is that the results are often pathetic.
White men don't have this issue because they are never breaking a ceiling. They never say 'I'm gonna be the first white man in space!' or 'I'm gonna be the first white man to discover a continent!' or 'I'm gonna be the first white man to win the Nobel Prize!'
It just always happens that way. Well, except I think that I may have been the first white man to smoke a Virginia Slim. I am still collating evidence.

Lewis Wetzel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Titus said...

Democrats elect first black president, now woman, next latino, then gay, lesbian, and finally trans.

Republicans will always have old white candidates-until they all die off....

Anonymous said...

Kinda pathetic, really. American "firsts" used to be real firsts. Men on the moon. Polio vaccines. The internet. Now we apparently have more than a few citizens who think that there's something "historic" about doing what has long since been done in other wealthy nations, and what just about every other banana republic on the planet manages to "achieve" without demanding a participation prize.

Oh, what a falling off...

Meade said...

"Whenever you hear of a first woman to do something, it's because men did it already."

First person made from a rib. First person to talk to a snake. First woman ancestor of all humans.

Btw, "Adam's Rib" — a good RomCom.

rhhardin said...

Mme Curie discovered radium and then died of radiation poisoning because she didn't know what she was doing, Klavan said somewhere.

jaydub said...

"Democrats elect first black president, now woman, next latino, then gay, lesbian, and finally trans.
Republicans will always have old white candidates-until they all die off.."

Who knew Hillary and Bernie were young non-whites? Who knew latino, gay, lesbian and trans could not be white? Or old? Is Tittie really this stupid or did someone one hack his account? I'm betting this stupid.

MadisonMan said...

Is it, or is it not, sexist to applaud Hillary as the first female candidate (Major Party)?

rhhardin said...

I don't think the early romcoms are much good, too stereotyped in limits. You want more aggression over the same territory.

My hero Stanley Cavell likes them, but he likes Shakespeare as well. You can follow his analysis of them with great appreciation but the original leaves me unimpressed.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Bill Clinton: the first white man to get a woman the presidential nomination of a major party. Does anyone believe that when Bill congratulates her, he'll say 'and it was all you, hon. It was all you.'

Robert Cook said...

I usually ignore these things, and all political speeches, as just so much propaganda and boilerplate, but I did happen to see Hillary's speech last night. I, too, was struck most by the odd statement that she would "take the next few days to absorb the history we've made here."

What?!

What does that even mean? What will she do...sit in a darkened room meditating upon "the history" that was made? Once she's "absorbed it," what will do with it?

Why was such a weird remark even included it the speech?

Jupiter said...

It's ironic that Hillary! should see her ascendancy as a triumph for "women", because when she says "woman", she means "unmarried woman". If the only people allowed to vote in America were married women, she would not have a hope in Hell of being elected President.

Jupiter said...

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure...."

Do you think another century and a half was what he meant by "long"?

MadisonMan said...

I prefer Desk Set over Adam's Rib.

Unknown said...

There's a pretty strong consensus that women invented agriculture, rope, cloth (felting first, then knitting, then weaving), fish-hooks, fishing with lines and nets, pottery, the wheel (for making pottery). I have to say, after two years if reading this blog and enjoying many of the comments (hi, Laslo!), this mornings' comments are pretty sickening. Although, that may be mostly due to rhhardin. Don't those of you guys who attack women so viciously and humorlessly understand how petty and weak it makes you look?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings

Certainly no debt ceilings, no ceilings on the spending/free money the government will give away to favored groups...

NPR clipped her line that "bridges are better than walls" and I had to laugh. That's definitely what we need--a bridge to help bring more immigrants in (laws be damned). Hell, since unity is better than division (and of course the Left would NEVER encourage division!) isn't it the case that having a border at all is worse than having no border--or that having a "nation" is worse than being just some people who're a part of the world, maaan?

At least Obama could deliver his empty, silly (often insultingly so) rhetoric with some rhythm. With Trump and Hillary it's gonna be a tough year on the ol' ears.

Brando said...

More likely the Clintons used what muscle they still had in the Democratic party to try and turn this into as much a coronation as possible. They frightened off any A-level opposition, and when some unknown aged Yankee socialist rolled in and gave her a scare, they did what they could to limit the damage. Now that it's in the bag, they can breathe a sigh of relief.

And the value of her donors' payoffs just increased a bit. It'll be a long four years at the trough.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Unknown said... Don't those of you guys who attack women so viciously and humorlessly understand how petty and weak it makes you look?

I dunno, the woman who was violently assaulted when leaving the Trump rally in San Jose probably didn't think her attackers looked petty and weak. The HuffPo and Vox workers who justify physical attacks against Trump supporters and/or rioting don't seem to think taking those actions will make the attackers look weak.

Oh, you mean "attack" in the sense of rhetoric, words, etc. Yeah, yeah, shame on the sexists--shaaaame!

HoodlumDoodlum said...

NBC Bay Area article:
But she was not treated well, either. Afterward, the video shows a young man, surrounded by supporters draped in Mexican flags, spitting at her. He was surrounded by other angry-looking young men, many of them who covered half their faces with black bandanas.
It's not clear who started the name calling and taunting, but it was clear that both sides participated in what turned out to be an ugly atmosphere.


Hey, remember what a big deal you folks on the Left & in the Media made about alleged spitting at/on some Dem. congresspeople who walked through a hostile crowd--the time where it turned out no evidence of any intentional spitting could be found, despite Andrew Brietbart putting up $100k as a reward for such evidence? Remember that--how awful the idea of people spitting on others was? Just kidding, I guess.

Gotta love the "both sides participated" framing, too. She yelled back at the protestors and flipped 'em off--they smacked her in the head, spat at her, surrounded her and physically threatened her. But both participated, sure.

Tell me again about how terrible the words the non-Left uses are for women, Unknown, and how THAT is the real threat, not actual physical violence against women that you fine folks on the Left have perpetuated recently.

boycat said...

As if the voters actually chose Hillary over Bernie. Let's pretend!

HoodlumDoodlum said...

The NPR story last night at the Clinton rally featured a guest who said that she's pregnant with a boy and she was glad he'll be born into a world where having a woman nominated by a major party isn't unheard of.

My first thoughts were: whoa, whoa, whoa, lady, how do you know it's a boy? That's something that he/she/xe has to decide for him/her/xir self, isn't it? I thought that kind of biological determinism was insultingly sexist and wouldn't have a place on an enlightened station like NPR, but the interviewer let it slide w/o comment. I also though, you know, all that's assuming the decides to bring the baby to term--since it's her choice and all right up until birth (or, according to Barbara Boxer, until you bring the baby home from the hospital).

Michael said...

What a load of baloney. Does anyone think it would have been "an historic moment" if we were nominating Sarah Palin, or even Condi Rice? These tropes are trotted out when they advance the Progressive agenda or someone's personal ambition, and otherwise ignored or dismissed. We bought Obama on the same basis, and look where that got us.

Michael K said...

the policies of the Obama Administration which have made Americans poorer and more indebted.

Tell those lies elsewhere.


Lies ? Hmmm.

Lots of celebration by the Hillary fans this morning.

It is certainly going to be an interesting year. I expect riots at both conventions and by the same people.

Lewis Wetzel said...

HoodlumDoodlum said...
The NPR story last night at the Clinton rally featured a guest who said that she's pregnant with a boy and she was glad he'll be born into a world where having a woman nominated by a major party isn't unheard of.

With luck, and if this nation can hold to its progressive values, that boy may grow up to be the kind of man who will gain enough political power to foist his wife on the nation as president.

Fernandinande said...

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that hydrologists have a Declaration of Sediments.

Captain Drano said...

Wow, first time I totally agree with AprilAppple:

"I don't think of Hillary as a woman. I think of her as a power-obsessed criminal."

And it was a disgrace for Clinton to bring up Seneca Falls. Hillary got where she is largely by aiding and abetting the destruction of other women, and riding on her husband's coattails. She didn't break any glass ceilings, she bought them through murder, corruption, evil conniving schemes, phony speeches (I'm sure she said "hi" and "goodbye" and proceeded to collect her 500k "speaking fee"), and a sheer lust for power. She's a disgrace to every hard-working woman.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

HoodlumDoodlum: With Trump and Hillary it's gonna be a tough year on the ol' ears.

Then don't listen. Unless you're a student of banana republic political psychology, there's nothing you need to know about what's going on in the world that requires listening to political speech.

Sebastian said...

"simply because he is biracial" Huh. Somehow I missed all the ads featuring O as "the first biracial" and "the first half-white" Prez in history.

All this Seneca Falls and first-woman stuff just shows how behind-the-times and out-of-touch Hill is. Now if she ran as the first bi candidate, that would be something. If she announced planning to transition, even better.

mockturtle said...

How many illegals [automatically registered to vote with drivers license] voted for Hillary in California? If I were Bernie I would scream bloody murder.

holdfast said...

Without her husband, she'd be a mediocre partner in a regional law firm. She may be high IQ policy wonk, but she has the charm and political instincts of a 10-day old sack of rotting garbage.

She's held two serious positions in her life - Senator and SecState - in both positions she achieved absolutely nothing of note. And she acquired both positions only due to her hubby's influence and the hard-work of a squad of character assassins like Brock and Blumenthal. In the first, that's cool because Senators from NY usually just cause trouble, so her doing nothing (besides voting to invade Iraq) was a win. As SecState she fumbled the "Russian Rest", cheer-led the pointless overthrow of an already thoroughly cowed Quadaffi, and pioneered a new policy of letting Americans die by inches just a few hundred miles from a major American air base. Oh, and she turned institutionalized corruption into a high art.

Chris N said...

The gap between this person and the ideals is wide, and perhaps telling of the ideals. 'Changing the world' through the political process is a rather shabby dream if what unites the dreamers is a rather seamy politician dragged over a line. The refuge into the dream at the expense of reality, moral decency, political opponents, skepticism and independent thought is hardly recommendation

My view: One could say the same about Trump, and a little less so about Bernie (though those ideals lead to misery), and perhaps a little less so about Cruz; and maybe old Romney and Jeb (those ideals tend toward mercantilism and some rot) but still: A dearth of moral decency.

How badly this portends for our Republic remains to be seen, but I know these last years have lowered a lot of expectations and basic trust.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

rhhardin said...
Mme Curie discovered radium and then died of radiation poisoning because she didn't know what she was doing,


This is a spectacularly stupid statement. Curie, and a lot of other people, gave their lives to advance the science of radiation and X-rays. They were chemists and physicists, not biologists. They were not stupid, they did not, for obvious reasons, understand the role that radiation plays in creating the somatic mutations that generate cancers.

machine said...

Madam President...the sickest burn.

Michael K said...

"They were not stupid, they did not, for obvious reasons, understand the role that radiation plays in creating the somatic mutations that generate cancers."

Until the 1940s, radiation was not understood to be dangerous at all. I remember shoe stores that had fluoroscopy machines so children could see how their feet fit in new shoes. She actually died at 66 of aplastic anemia and it is only probable that it was related to radiation. Plenty of people get aplastic anemia who did not work with radiation.

Radium was used on watch dials until the late 40s.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cubanbob said...

The Democrats, the party of totems but of no competence. Yes let's vote for the totem.
Shiloh if the Democrats were an actually political party and not a combine of grifters, parasites and criminals they might have had enough of a sense of shame to remove Clinton who would the first openly known traitor and criminal to run as the nominee of their party. Say what you will, the Republicans forced Nixon out in 1974. Had they been as criminal as the Democrats are today they would have stone-walled it out just like Obama has been doing for his whole Administration.

As we descend into Third World status by having scum like Clinton even be in the running for president how long before we have a new first for America, the first Army commander as president?

mikee said...

Hillary is the first female presidential candidate I recall caring about since the Surprise Party nominated Gracie Burns.

Hillary is more closely aligned with the 1980 & 1984 VP Candidate of the Communist Party USA, Angela Davis, than she is with Gracie, so vote for Hillary knowing you are voting to eliminate the US Constitution from any role regarding the US Federal Government.

n.n said...

I wonder how many people will vote for [class] diversity. One step forward. Two steps back.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Chris N said...

How badly this portends for our Republic remains to be seen, but I know these last years have lowered a lot of expectations and basic trust.

I can't think of a single Democrat who would refuse to vote for Hillary if she was indicted for a felony. Not one.

walter said...

Can it be altered into a pantsuit?

Meade said...

"Whenever you hear of a first woman to do something, it's because men did it already."

First Woman to Lie.
First Woman to Betray.
First Woman to Nag.

Bay Area Guy said...

The time is now for Trump supporters to focus their energy on beating Hillary. I can't stand her, but I've always said she (1) won't get indicted and (2) is a formidable candidate.

General modest-sounding liberalism + first woman meme + lotsa government-dependent citizens = a lotta votes.

I was skeptical of Trump in the primaries, but now is the time for him to perform. #NeverHillary

Real American said...

being a lying criminal is a ceiling that shouldn't be shattered. Hillary for Jail!

Bilwick said...

It's historic! (Like we haven't heard that word used ad inifinitum/ad nauseam these past eight years.)

walter said...

Blogger William Chadwick said...It's historic!
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And no one remembers the power of that like Hil.

Matt said...

The first woman who was elected governor was sworn in in 1925. The first woman governor who was not the wife or widow of a previous governor was sworn in in 1975.

The first presidential nomination by a major party of woman will happen in 2016. I'm guessing the first nomination of a woman who is not the wife of a previous president will happen in 2066.

The arc of the political universe is long, but it bends towards nepotism.

rhhardin said...

She's named after Mount Everest, which kills hundreds of Vince Fosters every year.

mockturtle said...

About the only American woman who [IMO] would have made a superb president was Barbara Jordan, despite the fact she was a Democrat [but a Democrat with principles].

Of course, very few men make good presidents, for that matter.

jg said...

'flabbily fleshed out' ... prof. althouse! you cut her to the quick. yes i know it's about her *writers*, but even trump would be impressed at the association. agree w/ the substance too.

Big Mike said...

The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.

And if Hillary Clinton is the best woman that major party can find, then they have absolutely nothing!

But as we look ahead, let's remember all that United States is. We all want an economy with more opportunity and less inequality, where Wall Street can never wreck Main Street again.

This from the woman who collects all sorts of money from Wall Street? Uh huh.

We want a government that listens to the people, not the power brokers, which means getting unaccountable money out of politics. And we all want a society that is tolerant, inclusive, and fair.

She intends to get "unaccountable money" out of politics? Who's a bigger vacuum hose for "unaccountable money" than Hillary Clinton? And it would be nice if "tolerance" was extended to white, heterosexual males and to women who feel uncomfortable when biological males are allowed -- encouraged! -- to hang around inside women's restrooms.

It really does take a village to raise a child.

No, it takes a mother and a father who respect and value each other. When the "village" noses in you get children taken from their homes for walking a half mile home from school alone.

Hillary Clinton is the most personally corrupt presidential candidate since Aaron Burr. And so is her party.