A side-note on Betty’s post below. I check in on New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer vertical from time to time, and every now and then old fiend of this blog, Andrew Sullivan, shows up to verbiate at length*. I don’t usually bother, because past performance is, in this case, a pretty good indicator of future results. But he promised to tell us why he thinks things are going to get better in 2018, and, I thought, heck, we all need some good cheer, so I opened up the post, and set myself to reading…
And then crashed to a halt, run aground on this ur-Andrewism:
We have a president…installed by his shamelessness, the unique awfulness of Hillary Clinton, and an Electoral College black swan.
That’s where I stopped reading. I just couldn’t go on, so bile-choked by the predictable Sullivan brew of Clinton derangement garnished w. barely obscured misogyny.
To dispose of that sentence’s minor sin first: it’s hard to call Trump’s Electoral College victory a black swan (does he even get the meaning of that term?) when George W. Bush rode the same phenomenon to his own disastrous win just one presidency ago. This is just laziness, or perhaps rather that sloppiness of argument that has been Andrew’s stock in trade for yonks.
But then, there’s the (I’ll admit, absolutely predictable) major witlessness: “the unique awfulness of Hillary Clinton.”
For f**ks sake. I mean, just listen to yourself, meathead. Hillary Clinton ran a flawed campaign. So have lots of men. It wasn’t a wretched one, and she may be, I think, forgiven for not recognizing the hard-to-fathom circumstances she found herself in, in which Trump’s utterly obvious disqualifications did not in fact disqualify him. And, of course, it has to be noted that for any failures in her management of the race, she almost certainly had done well enough to win in even those circumstances, but for Comey’s IED dropping in the last week of the campaign. To Sullivan, all the actual facts and forces of that terrible summer and autumn can be swept under the overarching explanation of Clinton’s awfulness.
I suppose, and perhaps it’s even more likely that the egregious Sullivan is suggesting that Clinton is uniquely awful as a human being. I don’t know. Stayed married to the same man for her adult life. Pursued a career in circumstances where many wouldn’t, and was good at it. Raised a child who has made it to adult hood w/out diving into trouble, behaving stupidly in front of extraordinary scrutiny, and seems to be basically OK. (Trust me. As the parent of a 17 y.o. about to launch into the world, that seems very, very impressive to this writer). Acted on her beliefs in and just out of college. Has consistently acted and advocated on behalf of children, especially the most vulnerable. Managed to retain pretty amazing equilibrium through eight years of her husband’s presidency and relentless attacks on every aspect of her personal and professional life. Served with distinction and the respect of her colleagues — including Republicans — as a two term senator. Looks better and better as Secretary of State as we see what happens when, as now, you have someone clearly not up to the job squatting on the 7th floor over at Foggy Bottom. Offered the American people a detailed and genuinely problem-solving set of policies — and full disclosure on her finances — in the campaign.
Uniquely awful, amirite?
Is she a saint, a flawless avatar of all that is perfectable in humanity? Not so much, just like all the rest of us staring at the grass from the top down.
We all know what’s going on. Clinton conducted her run for the presidency last year in the face of all sorts of headwinds, any one of which, had it fallen still, might well have left her and us in the happy alternate time line where she’s running the show. But of them all, the one that enrages me the most is the fact that overwhelmingly, the media coverage of everything she tried to say, advance, argue was filtered through men who have since been shown to be sexual harassers and abusers.
At the time there were plenty of people, including me and many here, who said, over and over again, that Hillary Clinton’s coverage was obviously, overhelmingly riddled through with simple sexism and its yet more malign sibling, overt misogyny. That, I think, was perfectly clear — demonstrated — by any attentive reading of the coverage itself. But now we have the smoking guns, the fact that men at a shockingly sweeping tally of the leading outlets were sexual predating assholes. I’m going to miss some, because there are so many, but think on the names: Oreskes at NPR, Thrush at the The New York Times, Lauer on the teevee, Charlie Rose at PBS, Halperin the inexcusable, too many Y chromosomes at Fox to count and so on and on across the entire spectrum of elite American political journalism.
Andrew Sullivan is, of course, on no one’s list of predators of women. He has a reputation for disdain for any female politician not named Maggie Thatcher, though, and it’s clear that beyond his Clinton derangement, Hillary’s gender was a constant irritant to him. He reminds again here that one doesn’t have to be an actual sex offender to be a misogynist, and an utterly unreliable narrator of events.
But this we knew. Who was it I twitted about concision?
*And I mean…LENGTH. I’d refer our Andrew to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s dictum: “Be sincere, Be brief, Be seated.” Also, Chekov: “Brevity is the sister of talent.”
Images: Nicholas Poussin, Camille delivers the schoolmaster Flavius to his students, c. 1637
Paolo Veronese, Susanna and the Elders, c. 1580.
Aimai
Bravo!
Jim
Can I hear an “Amen”? Amen!
mai naem mobile
Honestly I wonder if the Clintons are a lost cause at this point for Dems. I am not saying she wasn’t screwed anf that Bill wasn’t a good president. It’s that he can’t run again and she most likely won’t run again. Aren’t you better off using the oxygen in the room on the offense and showing off newer and younger leaders.
Emma
I dropped Mr.Sullivan into the event horizon of a massive black hole hidden in a pool of dark matter the size of the Marianas Trench. And there he rests. Ignore the screams.
Schlemazel
I had considered it a sign of great improvement when that useless tank of fart gas and puss was never mentioned around here. He has never been intellectually honest and it is beyond me why he is ever given space outside his own fetid web site.
Mnemosyne
Yes, it’s almost like someone who has been spouting off about engineering a “permanent Republican majority” for a couple of decades was working hard behind the scenes to make absolutely sure that Generic Republican would win the presidency in 2016 by rigging the system to throw Democrats of color off the voting rolls and make it harder for them to vote.
schrodingers_cat
How is the candidate of one of the two major parties winning the Presidential election a black swan event ?
Math was never Sully’s strong suit.
Omnes Omnibus
Tom, why did you even try? It was never going to end well.
Mary G
Thanks, Tom. Righteous rant, and I used to defend Andrew. His current column at NY Mag is dreadful, and they know it, because you have to look hard to find it.
Baud
I think time has proven Hillary right and her detractors to be privileged assholes.
@mai naem mobile: No, when they punch us, we punch back.
VeniceRiley
Sully, I predict, is happily wandering around Pinterest & Tumblr looking for whimsical p*nis snow sculptures to re-blog.
laura
Well he’s quite willing to profit off of her, though it pains him to do so…
I hope that Driftglass turns his attention to this blighted Reagan fanboy for a bit of of battering about the head and neck.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: this one wasn’t even that unlikely, a couple sigmas.
Betty Cracker
Well said, Tom. I’ll never stop being pissed off about it — that sexist pricks and the He-Man Woman Haters Club formed the media narrative.
@mai naem mobile: It’s not about Hillary Clinton, who isn’t going to be on a ballot again. It’s about sexism, which unfortunately will be.
kindness
Andrew has Clinton Derangement Syndrome. He had it for Bill and has it in spades for Hillary. I get his e-mails for his NY Magazine articles and kinda read them but he pissed me off last month with some way out of line CDS and I haven’t read him since. Life is too short to pay attention to a guy who loves him some Maggie Thatcher & Ronnie Reagan and I hated Reagan. Whocouldaknown Reagan wasn’t as bad as Dubya and now I’m smacked in the face with Trump who is (how can it be?) worse than Dubya.
Republicans………
Another Scott
Well said.
Not to derail the thread, but in other news… TheHill:
Emphasis added.
1. A “fix” is only needed because Trump intentionally broke the system that was working.
2. He intentionally broke the system because it has been the foundation of his whole campaign and his whole presidency:
Orange Word Salad Head is going to keep pushing for his Wall, and he’s going to keep pushing to cut legal immigration to the USA. We can’t assume that he’ll ever give up on that. It’s more important to him than Obamacare. It’s more important to him than locking up Crooked Hillary….
I’m sure Durbin and the rest of the Democratic Senate knows this. I hope everyone expecting to return to their jobs on Monday January 21, or get their checks after Friday January 19, realizes this too.
:-(
We can’t ever give up in fighting them.
Cheers,
Scott.
Gelfling 545
@mai naem mobile: Just forget it ever happened? Walk on past? I don’t think so. Not when they’re obviously gearing up to do the same to Gillibrand. And because Secretary Clinton deserves to have the record set straight.
Mnemosyne
@mai naem mobile:
The only people who still whine about Hillary Clinton are ones who are mad that she has been using her massive fundraising power for Democratic candidates, mostly women. That goes all across the political spectrum from Sanders dead-enders to Sully to Congressional Republicans.
The Clintons are massive fundraising machines. That’s why the Republicans and the Bros both want to shut them down. Don’t listen to the people who are trying to hurt Democrats in 2018.
Mary G
O/T, but I am squeeing and ready to see this:
Betsy
Thank you, Tom. God, I love this blog.
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
I think it’s Baud! who keeps saying that Hillary hatred is a good metric for figuring out who is not on the Democrats’ side. But that may just be a ploy for his Baud! 2020! campaign. ??
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
Wow. Great read, Tom.
I have one pedantic comment: The plural of predator is “predators” not “predator’s”. I am seeing this misuse of the apostrophe more and more lately. /end of pedantry
Gelfling 545
Apparently the house of one of Moore’s accusers has burned down and police are talking to a person of interest. No declaration of arson at present.
Mike in NC
Sully deserves to spend a weekend sharing a cheap motel room with drunk Steve Bannon.
Baud
@Mnemosyne: Yes to both!
ETA: Call me opportunistic.
Tom Levenson
@La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes): There are a bunch of typos above. Will try to correct them all. Will miss some. Thanks for catching that egregiousness.
Tom Levenson
@Mike in NC: I’m Tom Levenson and I approve this message.
ETA: Isn’t a non-drunk Steve Bannon something of a corporeal magnetic monopole? Conceivable, but never observed?
germy
@Gelfling 545: The one suing him?
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
Also, this:
The people who tanked Hillary will never admit it was because of sexism and misogyny, just like the people who “just didn’t like” Obama will never admit it was because of racism.
And the people who insist that there was something uniquely awful about Hillary that magically will not apply to the next strong woman candidate are lying to themselves and/or to the rest of us.
SiubhanDuinne
Tom, that was … amazing.
Mike in Pasadena
Stopped reading Sullivan when he said that anyone who opposed President Cheney’s
grand Iraq Adventure was a traitor. May he rot in hell (he Cheney and he Sullivan both).
Msb
Thanks, Tom and Betty.
Whenever Andrew says “Hillary”, I read “all the women who scare him”. Makes his work more interesting and useful.
I have some time Andrew, especially when he writes about religion, but none when he ignores the blind spot covering slightly over half the people on the planet. Have you ever noticed that, while Andrew worships Mother Maggie, he always chooses a woman to embody everything he hates and fears most on a particular day? He usually directs the Twenty Minutes Hate at Hillary, but for a while he dropped her to be obsessed with Sarah Palin.
schrodingers_cat
@Another Scott: Don’t call it chain migration, that’s the term that hate groups like Numbers USA use. Until T-tanic became President it was called family based immigration by USCIS and its predecessor INS, something which Doll Hair’s family has benefited from.
ETA: US citizens can sponsor their parents and children for citizenship. In theory they can also sponsor their siblings but the waits for those are extremely long, decades in the case of some countries.
Miss Bianca
@mai naem mobile: Um…WTF are you talking about? Whom, exactly, are you taking to task here? Andrew Sullivan? Or are you tut-tutting over the fact that some of us – Tom obviously included – still get fucking furious at the shitshow of misogyny and sexism that derailed HRC’s campaign – and continues to dog her afterwards? Because if what you are saying is, “oh, so what, just get over it already” to that, I am going to invite you to fuck the fuck off. The misogyny and sexism that derailed that campaign is still out there – it hasn’t magiically “me-too’d” out of existence. It’s going to dog some of those fine fresh Democratic faces you seem to be a-hankering for – Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, hell, even Elizabeth Warren, if you want to call her a fresh face – and if you’re just so booorrred with a fresh dissection of the problem here, just go the fuck away and let the grown-ups talk about it.
ETA: Why yes, I am a wee tad testy about the election results still, what gave it away?
cope
I check in at NYMag most days, saw the title of this piece, got ready to click the link and then…I saw the author’s name and aborted the click.
Thanks for for confirming my bias and thanks for taking one for the team.
trollhattan
@Mike in NC:
Redundancy alert! Nevertheless I approve of this pairing. Can we toss a torch-toting frat boy nazi in for good measure?
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: The innumeracy of these MSM bots is annoying.
MisterForkbeard
@mai naem mobile: Neither of the Clintons are “showing off”, nor are they the focus of the party.
There are a lot of people who refuse to let them go… but it’s mostly BernieBros, Conservatives and misogynists who unreasonably hate her. The Democrats certainly aren’t trying to make her a frontpage story.
Calouste
@Another Scott: I’ll believe the shitgibbon cares about chain migration in general when he puts his current in-laws on the plane back to Slovenia.
Ruckus
As someone who remembers what 17 was like, for me and for many around me, it’s very impressive.
geg6
@Miss Bianca:
Co-sign.
Ruckus
@Mike in NC:
You know I like the sentiment, but that is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. Not saying they don’t both deserve each other but still…….
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: His day job is on break right now, so….
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: January 21st is Sunday, I know this since it’s the anniversary of my birth.
Ruckus
@schrodingers_cat:
He HAS a strong suit?
GOVCHRIS1988
At this point, I’ve stopped listening to people who still have a fucking beef over the Clintons. They are as bad as the GOP loons that hate them. Its amazing, she’s not president, but they can’t keep her name out of their mouths. Hillary Clinton will most likely not be president of the United States. Its almost a certainty, she’s done. Buyers remorse is setting in nicely in America and she is the direct beneficiary of it. It will never cease to amaze me how much irrational hatred people have for them. I’m not enamored with them. I definitely think there are better Democrats out there to follow, but I have never gotten how it became so vicious or how they became the face of corruption. Especially when there is no true evidence of it. Like, it just never made sense to me.
matt
Sullivan should by all rights be incarcerated in Abu Ghraib for his role in the Iraq Debacle. That’s all I have to say about him or his opinions.
eponymous
@Miss Bianca: A-fucking-men!
MomSense
@Baud:
We punch back because it is truly reprehensible the way republicans and our media have systematically set out to smear and destroy her reputation. Every action turned into an example of her conniving and lust for power. As Michelle Obama said, if Hillary Clinton were our daughter we would be so proud.
And this is a cautionary tale. They did the same to the Obamas (though not for as many years) and will do the same to any and every Democrat who challenges the status quo. We fight back because this bullshit has to be stopped.
trollhattan
@Ruckus:
Flameproof underwear.
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: D’Oh! Misread the calendar. :-p
Happy Upcoming Birthday!
Cheers,
Scott.
Westyny
I’ve linked this post to all my frienemies. Speaks for me. Also, loves me some Veronese.
ruemara
It seems that the folks most obsessed with the Clintons are the folks who hate the Clintons for unfathomable reasons and refuse to get a damned life and a calendar.
I really can’t stand most of humanity. They are quite disappointing.
I blame the fact that I’m quite done with my workload and waiting on everyone else to finish something. Anything. Someone. Just work at half my speed, folks. My friend at another institution says I’m not adjusting to the academic pace well. I sincerely cannot goof off or whatever it is you do while waiting for folks to do things in a reasonable schedule and I am not enjoying the last minute panic mode. Too much time to read these hot takes and want to destroy all these nimrods.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
You know, I did not need to read that. Not in this life or any time after it.
Good one though, I’ll probably never forget it. You bastard.
Lyrebird
@schrodingers_cat:
family sponsorship…
Jumping over your calumny* against dolls with fluffy hair, I’d like to ask if there’s some way to estimate whether ANYone in the current White House comes from a family that did not use either family-sponsored or just plain undocumented immigration to get here. Gorka’s out, so he does not count.
*meant as humor in case that’s not clear
Paula
@mai naem mobile: The bastards are starting more email and Clinton Foundation investigations. Not only was HRC the victim of a “black swan” event of unbelievably corrupt republicans mixed with Russian interference mixed with third party useful idiots mixed with a dictator-wanna-be opponent”, they are STILL using her as a way to deflect attention from their corruption and destruction of our democracy. And that combination makes me:
a. Furious about EVERYTHING
and
b. protective of HRC.
Those swine screamed LOCK HER UP. I will never get over the chill of that. And anyone who thinks you can just blow off HRC’s experience as being “about her” and that all we need are new candidates aren’t getting it. The machine that was trained on HRC will be trained on whoever comes next unless and until their tactics are exposed and punished.
trollhattan
@Ruckus:
Sorry…kinda.
charluckles
It still amazes me that there is never any introspection about how Hillary Clinton went from being an excellent Secretary of State with a solid approval rating even amongst Republicans to a uniquely awful Presidential candidate. Our punditocracy is deep in denial.
Paula
Also fuck Andrew Sullivan. But not in a good way.
Scotian
*APPLAUSE!!!*
Very Well SAID!
The single biggest fury I have is still reserved for the US professional media for their inability to see let alone own their culpability in the trashing of HRC and the annointing of DJT in their coverage right up to election day. It and the Wilmer/Wilmerite inability to accept that their online revolution was actually Russian efforts to hurt HRC and their own willingness to run with Russian propaganda to do so with (and this clearly aided in the Trump “fixed/rigged system” speechifying) and not real, even after it became very clear what was going on there.are my two main sources of fury regarding 2016, but the former is always in number one and Wilmer’s aspect in number two.
I’m not even American but I am as bitter as many here who are regarding what was done to HRC and still gets done to this day. What happened in 2016 was not only a disaster for Dems and America, but the world, especially the rest of the world that believes in little things like equality under the law, the rule of law, etc. So seeing such a nice dissection as this post, well it soothes the furious heart, if only for a moment or two in a world that leaves one enraged as a default position.
Mary G
@Paula: This is what drives me nuts about the Gillibrand hate. They think she’s a good candidate, so they are trashing her.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Is it my imagination or does Andrew Sullivan read like a lefty version of David Brooks; they both write a lot of words that really say nothing. Even the Hillary quote “uniquely awful”, ok, in what way? She’s a lousy public speaker? Her choice of pant suites? What, Sullivan what?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@mai naem mobile: .
The Clinton’s keep the Conservative hate machine off the new blood so they can get their act together.
Not to mention, the Conservatives wouldn’t hate the Clintons if there wasn’t something they feared about them.
FlipYrWhig
An easy thought experiment: was Hillary Clinton more or less awful, or did she run a more or less awful campaign, than John Kerry?
Feels to me like Hillary ’16, Kerry ’04, Gore ’00, and Dukakis ’88 all ran similar campaigns with similar themes, and they all had similar gaffes and flubs. And in the gaffes and flubs department you can also count Bush ’92 and Romney ’12. (I don’t quite know how to count Dole ’96 or McCain ’08.) Well, except for the part where Hillary GOT SANDBAGGED BY THE FBI WHICH WAS ALSO AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME INVESTIGATING THE OTHER FUCKER, and through it all Hillary won by 3 million votes, which the others didn’t. So I’m not seeing “unique awfulness” but kinda the opposite.
Mike J
Ruckus
@ruemara:
My boss the other day said as I handed him a couple parts, “You amaze me, I’ve never seen someone who never looks like they are working and then you hand me something in a lot less time than I expected anyone to finish it.”
It’s practice. Make it look easy, even if it isn’t. You’ll get more interesting stuff to do, even though it’s possible you will also be picking up the slack. That isn’t true where I work now, which is one thing that makes it a good place to work. The corollary to this most of the time is that you also need to learn to look busy while waiting for everyone else to catch up.
Villago Delenda Est
When he speaks of Hillary Clinton, Andrew Sullivan is projecting his own awfulness on to her, because he is a disgusting excuse for a human being.
Tom Levenson
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: He’s not a lefty. He’s very much in the same constellation as Brooks, but with an accent that deceives more.
SRW1
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Hillary’s a female and Andrew could forgive that egregious fault only in the case of Maggy Thatcher.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
Well you shouldn’t be. It was good.
Paula
@Mary G:
Yep. She’ll get the HRC treatment, as will Kamala Harris and any other woman who looks like she’s making headway. Not to say if various men start “rising to the top” won’t also be targeted – they will. And there’s no low the GOP won’t go to in order to destroy Dem heavyweights. With the help with key media figures.
Cheryl Rofer
The Veronese painting, while of a story very consistent with the subject of Tom’s post, reminded me of how many painters (mostly male, of course) have fantasized about naked women and fully-clothed men.
There is the very famous Déjeuner sur l’herbe by Manet, the inspiration for it by Titian, and only the other day I saw one by Edvard Munch. I’ll bet there are others.
It’s a power trip, of course, along with whatever eroticism is involved.
matt
@mai naem mobile: That’s not how the game is played. Bullshit should always be countered.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
As are all of the politicians that he likes. Mmmmmm, I wonder why……
Gvg
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Sullivan is a conservative not a lefty.
I was always bothered by his such obvious oblivious misogyny. I quit reading him after his series of letters from real people and the circumstance in which they had had to have an abortion. MovIng letters he sympathisized with and then still came to the conclusion abortion should be banned.
SuzieC
Brilliant. I’m sharing this.
Tom Levenson
@Cheryl Rofer: Agreed. I chose the Veronese out of some other very well made paintings of this scene because his Susanna is the most cloaked of all the Old Master versions I could find.
cokane
@Tom Levenson: yep. Sullivan is actually a doctrinaire conservative on a lot of issues. In fact, the only issue where he was out in front in a leftward way, gay marriage, can mostly be credited to his own solipsism. Same thing for drug legalization. I can’t think of a single issue besides those where he’s come to even the left-of-center view.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Tom Levenson: Ah stand correct. I mean Sullivan is really good as saying nothing, a lot.
Jay S
A subtle pun or revealing typo?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
they’re not just both conservatives, they’re both conservatives preciously infatuated with their own (alleged) intellects and (alleged) principled conservatism. Sullivan was rightfully and famously mocked for some winsome recollection of his youth spent whiling away hours reading Oakeshott in the Widener library (which is, um, part of a university… near Boston… really, old top, if you have to ask…). Brooks often speaks (or used to, I only read him nowadays if I want to keep up with some good takedown) of his Great Books curriculum at the U of Chicago as if he invented it. He was quite surprised when Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law, UofC faculty) mentioned he was a fan of Reinhold Niebuhr, not exactly an obscure author among political science majors. I wonder why he was surprised Obama was familiar with Niebuhr…
OTOH, Sully was something of an O-Bot (meep, meep, motherfuckers) and I wouldn’t be surprised if Brooks voted for him at least once.
Cheryl Rofer
@Tom Levenson: The story is great. And Artemesia Gentileschi did one. I’ve been thinking about how much of the sexual harassment thing is about power. (Spoiler: all of it.) I’m working on a post. Maybe this weekend.
Ksmiami
@Paula: as I said we need to dismantle the gop root and branch as the party is. An enemy of democracy
GOVCHRIS1988
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh we know why, because according to the William Buckley fellating Brooks Brothers there, Negroes like President Obama shouldn’t know who authors like Niebuhr. Oh, they underfund their schools so much, the most prolific writer in their libraries should be Dr. Seuss.
Gelfling 545
@germy: I don’t think so. At least not at the moment.
stinger
@Tom Levenson: There is the option of illustrating the same thing but with a work by a female painter. To my mind, that lessens somewhat the “male gaze” aspect. Although Artemsia Gentileschi was a painter of her time, and for her audience.
ETA: And Cheryl Rofer beat me to it.
Paula
@Ksmiami:
I certainly agree with that!
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Anyone who doesn’t stay within the parameters of both siderism will be shut out of most gigs. This combined with the coverage of every issue within the horse race context, and the repeating of conventional wisdom (nothing more than the gossip and opinions shared by the same “journalists” in a closed loop) explains the majority of mainstream “news”.
When I was a college student I worked at the front desk of the hotel that served as the press headquarters for the HW Bush summer White House. One of my jobs was to make copies of the daily press briefing that Fitzwater sent to us by fax every day. I would read it while I made copies and make a list of the questions I would ask if I had the chance. Then I would see the press corpse come in, take the briefings, and never read them. They would hit on me, gossip with each other, show off their pictures of boat rides with HW, and drink heavily. Everything they said on tv was just bullshit they heard from each other.
Tom Levenson
@Jay S: Intentional.
normal liberal
@Cheryl Rofer:
Of course, culturally ingrained misogyny and sexual violence was Artemisia’s wheelhouse, have been on the receiving end. And yet she persisted, or rather painted.
Somewhere on a dusty shelf there’s an art history dissertation examining why Susanna and the voyeurs is a staple on the Major Painter final exam. I am reminded of an AH prof in an intro class (at a women’s college, no less) who used what may have been a Susanna wrapped in a bearskin to illustrate one lecture, during which he rhapsodized on and on about the brilliance of “fur against flesh.” ETA, the male gaze, academic excuses subcategory.
Citizen Alan
@Mike J:
It is a testament to Andrew Sullivan’s well-honed misogyny that I didn’t actually read that quotation too closely at first and actually assumed it was something Sullivan Road until I click the link and saw it was an onion article
rikyrah
@Scotian:
which is why none of them , who brought us to this point, should ever be forgiven
Tom Levenson
@Cheryl Rofer: I know and like the Gentileschi. I thought about using it, as I do think the gender of the painter had something to do with the power of the emotion in it. But some readers have noted that nudes, even Ahhhhht nudes, are NSFW, so I tend to avoid the more exposed works. But yeah — it would have been the spot on choice for this post.
Look forward to the post.
Also, re harassment, sex and power — to me Donald Trump is the perfect example of that. There’s nothing about him or anything he’s ever said or done that suggests he actually likes sex as an arena of pleasure, intimacy, fun. The reverse, rather — his bluster sounds to me like someone who’s terrified of both its emotions and the messy physical reality. All he says, and, as far as we can see him in public with women, is about power, physical coercion etc.
sheila in nc
@MomSense:
Heh heh…
Tom Levenson
@stinger: See my reply to Cheryl above. I try to make sure the work I put up isn’t going to cause anyone any difficulty. But yeah, the Gentileschi is a great work, and a perfect illustration of what I was talking about.
That said, I kind of like the power relationship in this one.
Cheryl Rofer
@Tom Levenson: Not just the power relationship, but the emotions involved.
Scotian
@rikyrah:
A- FUCKING-MEN!!!!!!
Tom Levenson
@Cheryl Rofer: Oh yeah. It’s a great work. (And I much prefer it to the one that on the same subject that she’s supposed to have done w. her father.)
jl
What does ‘Black Swan’ of the Electoral College mean? Everyone knows how it works and what you have to do to win it.
I think HRC is mediocre electoral politician, and her career history turned out to be an unexpectedly serious obstacle given the mood of voting populace. But ‘uniquely awful’? Worse electoral politician than Mitt, for example? Really?
normal liberal
@Tom Levenson:
Illustrating the painter’s experience pretty directly. I appreciate her multiple versions of this, different angles, expressions and places in the time of the event; you can almost hear her thinking “I think it’s time for Judith to cut off a head again. What kind of blade this time?”
Sloane Ranger
I’m not an American but I was enraged when I found out Sessions DOJ were re-opening the email investigation. Just how much shit does this women, who has made mistakes as we all do but has dedicated her life to serving her nation and its citizens, have to put up with?
I’m also afraid that the investigation will be carried out by hacks and partisans who will twist the law to find SOMETHING to charge her with.
Provides a useful diversion from the Russia investigation and plenty both sides do it talking points for the MSM.
She shouldn’t have to put up with this. Comey (and Mueller) were hailed by Republicans as honourable and respected public servants – until they upset the Republicans and then overnight they became corrupt hacks!
Do normal apolitical Americans actually buy any of this?
Tom Levenson
@normal liberal: ;-)
Scamp Dog
@matt: To Sullivan’s credit, he argued strongly against torture, and even came up with good arguments and relevant background & history. Since then, he’s been batting .000, as far as I can tell. I think his deal is that he’s an Oxford debater: he can prep an argument for either side on any topic at all. If the reasoning supporting his argument is crap, he just uses all the verbiage and bafflegab he can think of to “win” the debate. How he came up on the right side of the torture debate is now a mystery to me.
KBS
De-lurking just to say amen!
Scamp Dog
@cokane: I had forgotten about that. As you point out, it personally benefits him. This brings his batting average up to what, .005 maybe?
Summer
Thank you, Tom. And right on
Trentrunner
The kids today may not remember that Andrew Sullivan solicited unsafe sex while HIV-positive back when HIV was a death sentence.
Google “Andrew Sullivan + milky loads” (sorry) if you want to know more.
He is execrable.
charon
@Sloane Ranger:
Yes, if they watch a lot of Fox News or get their news from Facebooj.
Elie
@Another Scott:
This will be one of the “fronts” in the continuing and soon to be exacerbated war for our country. Get ready. We are not going to be able to have a comfortable, mail-in resolution to our troubles. We are going to have to work this out and this government shut down may fold in with the ongoing Russian investigation crisis and who knows what else since the Republican congress also seems to be amping up for some shit.
geg6
@Mary G:
I don’t like her and I don’t think she’ll be that great a candidate. But I have no interest in trashing her. I will just do my best to make sure she’s not the nominee. I don’t trust her so I don’t want to be forced to vote for her. There are other great women and men who I trust much more.
Matt
Sullivan is a quasi-racist idiot….and jesus we need someone not named Clinton to run for office ASAP. Please god keep Chelsea as far away from politics as possible. I can’t stand any more of this Clinton hatred from both sides. I think the deal with Sully is, he knows he fucked up by helping to kill Hillary’s healthcare ideas, but can’t admit it to himself, so he constantly just attacks them out of shamefulness. Either that or he’s just a giant douche. Tomato…tomahto.
Aleta
@Gvg: That was it for me too. He encouraged women to write to him about their trauma ending late term pregnancies that were profoundly unviable. He praised himself for opening the space to them, and said the discussion mattered and he wanted to keep it going. More women wrote in about their very painful loss of wanted children, and the medical reasons. After a few weeks of this, he said he’d thought it over and (as though delivering a judgement) he’d decided that he still believed all abortion wrong. The way he handled it was abhorrent. Later, iirc, he mused that putting the stories online was one of his great accomplishments, and perhaps he would collect them into a book.
Matt McIrvin
@Gelfling 545:
And to Kamala Harris, and to any woman who runs. I’m already seeing Democrats say that the party will be taking a worrying risk in 2020 by nominating a woman, any woman.
beergoggles
I really can’t understand his hatred of Hillary, unless he’s resenting her being Thatcher version 2. Since he’s a well off white person, there’s very little reason to have problems with her record. And that contrarian douchebag just needs to take a seat and stfu.
LanceThruster
@Mnemosyne:
Pure projection on your part. Voted for Obama but was disappointed with his bank bailouts and war escalations…color was not an issue. Would have had the same dislike of Clinton if she were a man kneecapping Bernie, and looking forward to supporting Tulsi Gabbard. Additionally, unless Jill Stein has plumbing different than presumed, for many of us, gender was not the issue. Your assertions are like claiming a political dislike of Ben Carson or Allen Keyes must be racial. I know plenty here took every opportunity to shit on Cornel West and Susan Sarandon. Must hate his color and her gender, no?
And get bent with your Bernie Bros smear. He supported her and fewer of his camp went over to Trump than PUMAs did for McCain. She was undeniably uniquely uninspiring to a vast number of the electorate. Not Comey, not Russians, not Julian Assange. It was hers to lose, and sadly…she delivered.
JAFD
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Actually, Widener University (formerly Pennsylvania Military College) is in Chester, Pennsylvania (right off I-95). Did some studying at the library there – a very nice library it was – when I was in high school and lived in the neighborhood, many moons ago…
Daddio7
After over a year past Trumps election many people still can’t understand why Hillary lost. This country is almost evenly divided as to what party platform people want to live under. This election was not a popularity contest for class president, it was about what ideology the party in power would have. Most Trump voters I know hated Trump but they hate Democratic control more. From what I can tell some Democratic voters hated Republican policies but feared Hillary more.
The three ring circus that is the White House has given Republican voters pause and has greatly inflamed Liberal voters. Being Liberals are all about mass movements I can see millions more people motivated into voting the next two elections, mostly for the Democrat candidates. What I fear is a Stalinist purge and forced reeducation of “disloyal” Trump voters (like me) by the now in power Democrats to insure this never happens again.