September 14, 2016

"Still dicking bimbos at home."

"I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect... A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dicking bimbos at home (according to the NYP)."

Email from Colin Powell.

ADDED: You know, maybe the women aren't bimbos. That's kind of misogynistic.

151 comments:

Hagar said...

Bill Clinton? Yeah, I would say they are bimbos.

Jim Gust said...

Seriously, Althouse? Women who go have sex with Bill Clinton right now are not bimbos? What is the better word for them? Because I'm pretty sure that Bill and Hillary think those women are bimbos. Or worse.

bleh said...

Define bimbo. These women know he's married and are having sex with him in his marital bed.

mockturtle said...

Having sex with a known married man makes you automatically a bimbo. Yep, no doubt about it.

mockturtle said...

Incidentally, in some of Powell's emails he apparently used the term "Clinton Mafia".

holdfast said...

Any female human willing to put out for Bill Clinton at this point, and not under the influence of powerful narcotics, is by definition, a bimbo, if not something worse.

Hagar said...

BTW, Colin Powell joined the Army in 1958, under Eisenhower, so he has served under quite a few Democrat presidents.

YoungHegelian said...

Well, at least Bill has a hobby to keep himself entertained. Too bad Hillary can't find one & leave the rest of us alone.

J Scott said...

How much of a friend that he respected could she be if he would only grudgingly vote for her and tell a third person that she is greedy and with unbridled ambition (which I think most people wouldn't take as a compliment, ambitious fine, unbridled ambition is something else.)

JCC said...

My dictionary says

Bimbo - an attractive but empty-headed young woman, especially one perceived as a willing sex object.

I don't know that 100% of women who have (or would if offered the chance) slept with Bill Clinton fit this definition.

Taste is a funny thing. And I suspect lots of men would cheat with the right female, realtionships and marriage be damned.

traditionalguy said...

I told my wife that Powell said this, and she refused to believe it. But then she thinks all people are good by default ...the opposite of original sin, more like original niceness.

Kathryn51 said...

An acquaintance of mine has a mother that lives in pretty high-end condo complex in Phoenix Arizona. He told me several months ago that everyone knows that one of Bill's bimbos lives there - it may be the Energizer. Secret Service, although discreet, are noticed.

Anyone who thinks that Bill was in Phoenix "golfing" when he met Loretta Lynch on the airport tarmac is naïve. The press knows this of course - but won't report because Clinton Privacy Must Be Protected At All Costs.

Barry Dauphin said...

Colin Powell puts the weirdest things into emails. Surely he's learned by now that this is not a really secure form of communication.

Rob said...

"Dicking" is such a coarse term. The preferred word is "schlonging."

traditionalguy said...

Word to the wise: Bimbos come in different types. Crazy ones, earthy ones, kind ones and cruel ones.

Rae said...

Is there an equivalent misandist term for the one whose dick is being bimboed?

Rob said...

Is there an equivalent misandist term for the one whose dick is being bimboed?
Dirty old man?

Big Mike said...

ADDED: You know, maybe the women aren't bimbos. That's kind of misogynistic.

@Althouse, can you suggest a better term for a woman who would provide sexual services for a married man -- make that a married grandfather? We await your suggestion with great curiousity.

Bob Boyd said...

From Wikipedia:
Betsey Ross Wright (born July 4, 1943) is an American lobbyist, activist, and political consultant who worked more than a decade for Bill Clinton in Arkansas. She served as chief of staff to Governor Clinton for seven years. As deputy chair of the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, Wright established the rapid response system that was responsible for defending Clinton's record in Arkansas and promptly answering all personal attacks on the candidate.

During the 1992 campaign, Wright coined the term "bimbo eruptions" to describe rumors alleging extramarital affairs by Clinton.

BN said...

Perfesser (please): what is the etymology of "bimbo?"

mockturtle said...

Kathryn51 rightly asserted: Anyone who thinks that Bill was in Phoenix "golfing" when he met Loretta Lynch on the airport tarmac is naïve. The press knows this of course - but won't report because Clinton Privacy Must Be Protected At All Costs.

Yeah, one doesn't play golf when it's 115 degrees F. However, I'm more inclined to think his primary purpose was to meet with Lynch.

Rob cleverly noted: "Dicking" is such a coarse term. The preferred word is "schlonging." :-D

Sebastian said...

@TG: "I told my wife that Powell said this, and she refused to believe it." . . . that a nice man like Powell would say such a mean thing about other people?

@K51: "Secret Service, although discreet, are noticed." That's one of the things that makes these people different: they live their immoral lives in full view of other people, and don't give damn. Lies, adultery, corruption, the destruction of other people's lives, discarded for the sake of "unbridled ambition": nothing matters. The Clintons are anti-Kantians: other people matter to them only as means.

Trump is a clown. He ain't no saint. But he is not that kind of moral trash.

Ann Althouse said...

Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent.

But Bill's women were referred to disparagingly as bimbos in the classic phrase "bimbo eruptions." It's a sexist phrase, and I think Hillary herself is implicated in the use of it. It was coined by her friend Betsey Wright. These were women disparaging women, and while I don't consign such women to "a special place in hell," I think it's sexist and they should be held responsible.

If Colin Powell wants to use that term, he is responsible too. It's an insulting epithet of a sexist type.

Real American said...

If they're being dicked by BJ Clinton they are.

mockturtle said...

Althouse naively proposed: Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent.

A woman who has sex with Bill Clinton is certainly not Mensa material.

Sebastian said...

"I doubt if they women Bill spends time with are unintelligent." IQ-wise, maybe; morally, definitely.

"But Bill's women were referred to disparagingly as bimbos in the classic phrase "bimbo eruptions." It's a sexist phrase." When used in the original context, yes. But women who, after the long history of such denigration, with full knowledge of who Bill is, nonetheless willingly expose themselves to such trash are fairly called by harsh names -- bimbos being benign.

Automatic_Wing said...

I never thought of Monica, Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones as rocket surgeon material. But maybe that's just me being misogynistic!

Kathryn51 said...

"unbridled ambition" - says it all.

I was about to mention some long ago affair of Bill's when he running for Congress (before he got married) in which the former girlfriend/mistress said that Hillary's plans for the U.S. Presidency began long ago. Here is the url - sorry, but I don't know how to embed the link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3396589/Anonymous-phone-calls-fears-stalking-veiled-threats-power-hungry-Hillary-torpedoed-torrid-affair-Bill-Clinton-21-year-old-campaign-worker-threatened-destroy-master-plan-president.html

This is the line I will always remember:

Hillary, she recalled, 'Strolls up to me, takes the glass of wine out of my hand, says, 'Hmmm, wine' – takes a drink of it, gives it back to me and says, staring me down, "I'll have to get some of that."

'It was her way of letting me know – like a cat – marking its territory. Everybody in there just turned and looked, like what the hell was that all about? And Hillary just had this kind of half smirk on her face and she strolled off.'



The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Thought the emails made Powell sound brittle and insincere. Another military stalwart that's turned into Establishment Jello in his old age.

Mary Beth said...

If I felt a friend had unbridled ambition and was greedy, I doubt that I would continue to think of them as a friend.

mockturtle said...

If Colin Powell wants to use that term, he is responsible too.

Are you saying he has to own the impact? ;-)

lonetown said...

I was kind of hoping to hear what the OED had on "dicking".

Anonymous said...

Colin Powel sounds like sort of a dick. Is there anyone he didn't diss in those emails?

lonetown said...

"dicking bimbos" sounds like a pretty good name for a band.

Lucien said...

Colin Powell? Isn't he that fellow who opposed allowing gays to serve in the military -- using many of the same arguments that had been used in opposition to racially integrating the military? Isn't he the fellow who gave a speech at the UN proving that the Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction?

Well fuck me sideways, I guess we'd all better genuflect before him.

Now wonder he has to set the bar for "respected friend" so low.

Kathryn51 said...

Sebastian said...

Trump is a clown. He ain't no saint. But he is not that kind of moral trash.

Well, I'm not sure - his treatment of Ivana (Wife No. 1) was pretty bad. Marla didn't deserve squat as far as I'm concerned. Nevertheless, he seems to have reformed/matured/aged/whatever and it is today's Trump that is running for President. Hillary - she hasn't changed at all.

YoungHegelian said...

Oh, come on people, cut the Billster some slack.

While Hillary was out "powering through" her pneumonia, he was out powering through some pudenda. He, too, has been known to faint when, after downing a bottle of Viagra, all the blood rushed to the wrong head.

rcocean said...

Lets be honest. If you're a woman under 35 and you're hopping in bed with a 60-70 year old Bill Clinton - you're a Bimbo.

Difference between the sexes. For everyone man under 35 who dreams of sex with Hillary there are 500 women who dream of sex with Bill.

Of course, how many Gays want to have sex with Bill is anyone's guess.

rcocean said...

I agree. Lewinsky and some others were not low IQ.

So "bimbo" is out. What about calling them sluts?

Mick said...

They ARE bimbos because what else would they want with an old man that has had bypass surgery besides the smell of power. Especially when he is married to the Crooked Old Lady (trademark), that makes them Double Bimbos!

Mrs Whatsit said...

"although she is a friend I respect..."

Geez, I wonder how he talks about the friends he doesn't respect? Remind me not to make friends with him.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

thing is, at this late date, nobody knows who the bimbos are... So when I read "still dicking bimbos as home"... I think of Bill dicking... It doesn't matter who - he's dicking around, as usual.

Gross.

Moneyrunner said...

"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent."

Of course that is how Hillary and the coterie of women around Bill saw them since they coined the term bimbo eruptions.

Interesting. Do you really think that Bill picks his sex toys for their brains?

And if the women Bill dicks are not 'bimbos" what would a philologist say? Grand Horizontal? Mistress? Comfort woman? Helpless victim of desire?

I guess gold digger is not the term you would approve, however while I have no proof I suspect that there are financial benefits to being a friend of Bill with benefits.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Greedy.

Greedy sums it up. That is what everyone thinks. She's greedy.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Will bibmo eruptions fit into that basket of deplorables?

MadisonMan said...

Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence.

Attractiveness, yes. But to me, a bimbo may be playing dumb, rather than being dumb. They know they're in it because of their looks, and that some men are intimidated by smart women.

PB said...

Bimbo. That's why you spell Bill with a B.

Jon Ericson said...

My favorite email... so far.

MaxedOutMama said...

Anyone screwing Bill Clinton at this point, after Monica et al, IS a bimbo or not functioning at a normal mental level.

n.n said...

He's married. How transsocial.

bimbo - stupid, inconsequential, contemptible person

Stupid is contextual. In this context it implies moron or bad judgment.

David Begley said...

#HumilatedHillary

Dude1394 said...

Sound like bimbos to me, screwing married men.

David Begley said...

And who is to say that Powell didn't leak the emails instead of being hacked?

I think this is his revenge.

JML said...

Blogger The Cracker Emcee said...
Thought the emails made Powell sound brittle and insincere. Another military stalwart that's turned into Establishment Jello in his old age.

I know someone who served vey close with Powell years ago. He was always this way.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The bimbos are the ones stupid enough to talk about it, excepting Paula Jones who wasn't actually involved with Bill. The smart ones don't talk, because they are not bimbos. But if you accept that Bill and Hillary are effectively separated even if still married, does it even count as cheating at this point? And on Hillary's side, how does it count as condoning?

The case can be made that Bill is the bimbo. I think that is what was really meant by bimbo eruptions. It wasn't women disparaging women, it was women disparaging one particular man.

Big Mike said...

It's a sexist phrase, and I think Hillary herself is implicated in the use of it. It was coined by her friend Betsey Wright. These were women disparaging women, and while I don't consign such women to "a special place in hell," I think it's sexist and they should be held responsible.

@Althouse, I ask again. What's a better term for someone who has an affair with a married grandfather than "bimbo"?

robother said...

"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence." Thus, the significance of giving them "Leaves of Grass."

Freeman Hunt said...

I don't know that bimbo necessarily requires lack of intelligence. Sleeping with married dudes seems pretty bimbo. Bimbo is lack of substance. Plenty of intelligent people lack substance.

gadfly said...

If Colin Powell chooses to define women who openly visit Lonesome Slick in the fortress at Chappaqua as "bimbos," it could be that he still has the security clearance and friends in high places to better judge the buxom blonde called "Energizer by the Secret Service detail.

But Energizer is an old story that has been reprocessed by the gossip columnists several times. "Colin indeed has a colon(:)" perhaps never saw this kind of action among his multi-starred officer friends?

David Begley said...

Question for the debate. Mrs Clinton, if elected President will you allow your husband to continue his dicking of bimbos in the White House?

Johanna Lapp said...

I love myself and respect myself. I'm highly educated, intelligent, outstanding at my work, well read and well-spoken, usually kind and mostly honest. If I met myself, I'd hope this woman would grant me her friendship.

But I would not vote for myself for president and would have grave concerns about anyone who would. As much as I love Johanna, I can see the flaws in her temperament that make her much more valuable doing the work she's already doing.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

FullMoon said...

They have an arrangement. Maybe Bill enjoys the company of an interesting woman. Maybe he gets tired of sitting home alone at night watching TCM.
Obviously he is dealing with women who have sense enough to keep quiet.

Of course. maybe Powell believes what he reads on the internet,and rather than dicking bimbos, and ol' Bill is spending his time reminiscing about the past, when he could actually get a boner.

Lewis Wetzel said...

There must be some mistake. ABC News says the hacked Powell emails were all about Trump being a racist disgrace for the US!

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-national-disgrace-colin-powell-wrote-hacked-emails/story?id=42073252

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Bill is a Mimbo.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger robother said...
"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence." Thus, the significance of giving them "Leaves of Grass."


"Robbed from the cradle, endlessly bonking . . ."

holdfast said...

It's a sexist phrase, and I think Hillary herself is implicated in the use of it. It was coined by her friend Betsey Wright. These were women disparaging women, and while I don't consign such women to "a special place in hell," I think it's sexist and they should be held responsible.

Actually, its not really sexist in this context - it's classist.

JAORE said...

"Is there an equivalent misandist term for the one whose dick is being bimboed?"

How about horn dog?

Paco Wové said...

Althouse trolls her readers again, chapter ∞.

Meanwhile, The Flight 93 Election

Restatement on Flight 93

Someone may have posted these here already. If so, apologies for the redundancy.

Dave in Tucson said...

bimbo (n): an attractive but empty-headed young woman, especially one perceived as a willing sex object

You were saying?

Sally327 said...

I wonder how Powell knows this, that Bill is still playing around in some way and that the women are bimbos. It seems very specific, not just a speculation. It's not sexist if the women really are bimbos, which means a good-looking but not especially bright woman. As opposed to Hillary who is (reportedly) intelligent but not particularly attractive.

Bimbo is descriptive, we all know what Powell meant when he said it. That's what language should do, allow us to communicate effectively.

Francisco D said...

I certainly think that Mr. Clinton has a thing for bimbos, aside from the occasional rape (e.g., Juanita Broderick), unwanted groping (e.g., Kathleen Willey) and intimidation for sexual favors (e.g., Paula Jones).

He is just a horny guy who is generally more successful than most horny guys. Let's not hate him for that.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

A bit OT, but: Hillary Clinton has described the late Sen. Robert Byrd as a "friend and mentor." Sen. Byrd was once a Grand Dragon of the KKK. That would put him definitely in her "basket of deplorables," right next to David Duke. So, was he "irredeemable," Mrs. Clinton? Was he "not American," Mrs. Clinton? Inquiring minds want to know.

narciso said...

not to mention what he said about megyn kelly, then again didn't guccifer catch him flirting with some eastern european diplomat some years back,

Laslo Spatula said...

I am surprised Althouse hasn't chased down "dicking" as a verb in vocabulary history.

'Cocking': doesn't work so smoothly.

'Pricking': does work, but with a different contextual meaning.

I don't know if anyone says "Johnsoning."

I am Laslo.

Jupiter said...

"Misogynistic"?

A misogynist is one, male or female, who dislikes women, because they are women.

I realize that many disagreeable women would prefer to think that when men don't like them it is because there is something wrong with the men. I also realize that "sexist" has been worked to death, to the point that people are beginning to notice what a stupid term it is, and what a poverty of thought and intentional misrepresentation it is designed to cover for. Neither of those facts excuse this sloppy diction.

To say that using a word to refer to some women but not all is "misogynist" is simply obtuse. Clearly, the intent is to draw a distinction among women, not to smear them all with the same brush.

"Sexist", on the other hand, is possibly accurate, since the behavior referred to has no male equivalent. But that merely shows, once more, that "sexist" is intended to depict as reprehensible a set of ideas which are universal among humans, arising as they do from biological realities. It is "sexist" to say that only women can be bimbos, just as it is "sexist" to say that only men have Y chromosomes and penises. Neither one, however, is "misogynist". Let alone, God help us, "misogynistic". Is that like "generalistic"?

Sally327 said...

"Sexist", on the other hand, is possibly accurate, since the behavior referred to has no male equivalent."

I think "boy toy" would be the male version of a bimbo.

rcocean said...

"Thought the emails made Powell sound brittle and insincere. Another military stalwart that's turned into Establishment Jello in his old age."

Come on dude. Powell was always a Democrat. He was appointed JCS and Sec of State because of his skin color, not because of his brains or backbone.

BN said...

Remember back in college when Hillary was just another one of Bill's bimbos?

Unknown said...

I thought we agreed to call them 'grandkids'.

W.Cook said...

Women having sex with married men are not necessarily bimbos.

Women having sex with Bill Clinton? Guilty u yuk proven innocent.

BN said...

"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. "

Yes, of course, but is it Latin, Germanic, French, or just dang-o gaddum street talk American? Is the root, "bim" or "bo" or "idonno"? Or is it just one of those words that just sounds like what it is, what's the English Grammar term for that again? When is the first time it shows up in high faulting' litracher?

BN said...

Hell, don't make me put on my shoes and look it up myself...

Jupiter said...

BN said...
"Remember back in college when Hillary was just another one of Bill's bimbos?"

Hillary was once young. She was never attractive. It is an ongoing mystery of the first class why Bill Clinton ever even stuck his dick in her, let alone married her. I'd sooner stick mine in a rat-trap.

BN said...

"...ongoing mystery of the first class..."

You lost me at class.

Kansas City said...

Powell is an interesting guy. I had always thought it would have been good for the country if he had run for president in 1996. I also generally had been impressed. I started thinking less of him when he endorsed Obama in 2008 (although I could understand the racial pride) and especially less when he endorsed him without any reasonable explanation in 2012. Now, you read his emails and he seems very ordinary, petty, gossipy, conceited. I hope there are some emails that reflect a more thoughtful and nice person.

It will be interesting to see if he has the good sense to shelve the Clinton endorsement. He should. But he also seems to like attention.

gadfly said...

And this from the 6 O'Clock News on ABC Channel 7, Vero Beach:

"Good evening everyone, I'm Sandra Bookmen, and I'm Joe Torres. We begin with the breaking news about Hillary Clinton's death. Hillary Clinton's doctor has just revealed that the presidential candidate has been diagnosed with pneumonia. And this after Clinton left the 9-11 memorial ceremony early, and was captured on video, appearing to need assistance and to struggle to stay on her feet as she was getting in to that van.”

Jupiter said...

Sally327 said...

'I think "boy toy" would be the male version of a bimbo.'

What would be the effect on a female politician's reputation of it were generally known that she actively sought out casual sex with multiple "boy toys"?

Gahrie said...

I think it is entirely fair to call any woman willing to have sex with another woman's husband a bimbo.

madAsHell said...

Bimbo

Isn't Bimbo just white bread from Mexico?

Gahrie said...

It's an insulting epithet of a sexist type.

I agree it is an insult, that is why I use it. I dispute that it is sexist however. Both men and women use the term equally I find.

Women who sleep with other women's husbands deserve to be insulted.

David said...

What interests me most about this email is to learn what kind of people Colin Powell respects:

she is a friend I respect... A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational . . .

Yikes!

bgates said...

I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent.

"spends time with".

sane_voter said...

@Paco Wove,
Thanks for the links. Great articles.

Comanche Voter said...


Didn't Hillary say she was in charge of tamping down "bimbo eruptions".

So I'd say she threw the first "bimbo" word.

BN said...

Okay, i can't sleep anyway...

bimbo (n.)
1919, "fellow, chap," from variant of Italian bambino "baby;" first attested in Italian-accented theater dialogue. Originally especially "stupid, inconsequential man, contemptible person;" by 1920 the sense of "floozie" had developed (popularized by "Variety" staffer Jack Conway, d.1928). Resurrection during 1980s U.S. political sex scandals led to derivatives including diminutive bimbette (1990) and male form himbo (1988).

Annie said...

To call a woman, who has been sexually assaulted by Bill, a 'bimbo', is misogynistic. A woman who sleeps with a man she knows is married is a floozy...and he is a pig. And a wife, who covers for said adulterous raping pig, makes her as just as bad.

Achilles said...

The bimbos are the ones that Bill doesn't have to rape.

grackle said...

Obviously he is dealing with women who have sense enough to keep quiet.

Professional discretion; the oldest in the world.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Speaking of dicks, Colin Powell.

Fabi said...

Out -- bimbo.
In -- shameless hussy.

Annie said...

Jupiter, have you seen the Clintons in their college days? They were equally unattractive. They still are. I still can't figure out why anyone would sleep with the Clenis. Can't be his looks. Certainly not his character. And one of his floozies - can't remember the name - said he had a small 'unit'. Maybe he gives good presents or pays well.

Darrell said...

Colin Powell? You mean the guy that came out as a racist when he told us that he voted for Obama solely because he was Black? Recall that he was a self-proclaimed "Republican" for years. Yes. Just like Chuck.

MacMacConnell said...

"You know, maybe the women aren't bimbos. That's kind of misogynistic."
Yes we should show more respect to women fucking other women's husbands.

Col Mustard said...

In the context of this discussion, Bill Clinton would seem to be the bimbo.

P.S. In a wider sense, commenters appear to assign bimbo status to anyone who threatens a relationship. Maybe there are worse alternatives than bimbos.

Col Mustard said...

P.P.S. Re. Colin Powell and bimbos: If you don't go home with the one who brung you to the dance, maybe you're the bimbo.

james conrad said...

You know, maybe the women aren't bimbos. That's kind of misogynistic.

Now Ann, no matter how much lipstick one tries to smear on that killer quote, it still KILLS!

Valentine Smith said...

"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent."

This is pretty funny actually. Bimbo has one and only one meaning: it's a woman who will fuck anyone regardless of any "qualities" the man may possess. The word insults the man just as much as the woman and in Billhilly's case is totally appropriate as it is well known among in herpetologist circles that Clinton would fuck a snake if he could locate an orifice without fangs. Hence, it's actually misogynistic to think it only applies to the woman.

Bruce Hayden said...

Why don't the bimbos let Slick Willie dick them? There is the power thing, now, of course, and money too now. A lot of wonen love both. Esp bimbos. Also, he has a bit of the "ah, shucks" charm going on. Plus, he clearly played the odds, given how many women rejected him. But, another thing that is forgotten, is that at least when he was President, and probably governor, he had a lot of personal charisma going on. They used to say about him that when he gave his personal attention to you, it was like the sun coming out, and then when it shifted, it went out. I really didn't understand this sort of thing until I ran into the woman who has been my partner for 17 years now, and tried to figure out why she got so many marriage proposals from guys she hadn't even gone out on dates with. It is a real phenomenon, and is pretty weird. But when she modeled, she always opened the show, and I can remember several occasions where she has taken over rooms. I truly suspect that few women could really deny him when he tried hard to charm them.

Clinton's taste in women may have been part of why they were called "bimbos". He grew up a step above white trash, but married a woman solidly from the upper middle class. The parallel I saw was with Tiger Woods, who married a classy woman, and slept with lower class bimbos. Women he might get find in bars, or working as waitresses, and not women that he could take out socially. Which is to say that part of the bimbo thing was maybe classist, with Bill's choice of conquests revealing his more plebeian roots.

Finally, as to Powell's use of the word "dick" - my first thoughts were that he was just talking like an old soldier, whose long military career was at a time when women were somewhat rare. Somewhat of a locker room type usage. As to his career, yes, maybe becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was partly because of his race, but I suspect that a lot of why he got the Sec of State job revolved around the job he did for George HW Bush putting together the international alliance he did for the First Gulf War. Which ultimately got him close to the Bush family, and, thence, through familiarity, to be Secretary of State under the younger President Bush. I think though that his international philosophy was crosswise with neoconservative Darth Cheney and crew, esp when we went to war after 9/11/01. My memory is that Cheney and Rumsfeld on the one side clashed with Powell for the remainder of Bush's first term, until he was replaced by Condi Rice.

Bruce Hayden said...

Sorry - last monologue should have started "Why did the bimbos let Slick Willie dick them?"

Bruce Hayden said...

Oh, talking about Slick Willie - anyone else notice that he first claimed that his wife was Powering Trough the flu, and only when corrected, said pneumonia? Either the Clintons are finding it harder and harder to keep their lies straight, or he really is trying to sabatogue her run for the Presidency.

Kathy from Boston said...

...and we want all of this sordid drama back in the White House?

Jack said...

as an aussie i am a little surprised at the expectation of marital fidelity for politicians,

btw, if hillary wins will she use the same desk in the oval office?

MayBee said...

I'm with David Begley.

I think Colin Powell was "hacked".

sean said...

If the women aren't bimbos, why are they fucking a 70-year-old married man? I can't imagine a woman I respect doing that.

rhhardin said...

I'm glad to learn what the d-word was. The radio gave no clue.

But it still doesn't say if another genital was involved. Speak clearly, people.

readering said...

I'm trying to think, whose emails do I want to see hacked and leaked next by Russian intelligence to influence the course of the presidential election?

rhhardin said...

Hillary has made herself sexually unattractive by making her personality unattractive. Bill remains more upbeat. Life is not as dreary as fidelity would have made it.

I assume the bimbo likes it too, so where's the problem.

There's no trust that's being violated, and Bill gets to play the rogue, his natural state.

I have no idea what Hillary likes, unless it's lying and a corrupt sort of ambition that gives it something to do.

CStanley said...

My impression of Monica was that she was quite intelligent (though immature and emotionally needy which made her vulnerable to hero worship.) I agree with Freeman Hunt: high intelligence doesn't equate with high moral character.

I think bimbo definitely has a connotation of low intelligence, though perhaps it's sometimes fained. Agree with the commenter who said that "bimbo" reflects as poorly on the man involved as it does the woman. And no, not misogynistic to use the term if it fits. Of course the reason it was wrong for Hillary and Co. To use the phrase "bimbo eruptions" was that it didn't necessarily fit Monica (if you read the Starr report he was obviously leading her on toward a relationship that wasn't just sexual): also, it was obvious that the way they used the term was meant to disparage only the women and they weren't even conceding that Bill was the instigator, so that use of the term really was misogynistic.

CStanley said...

I can't deny some feeling of schadenfreude reading these emails but mainly I feel disgust toward Powell. What a cesspool Washington DC is, and how sad that our ruling class has the moral IQ on par with a bunch of junior high school students. All of these leaks aren't exactly shocking, we sort of knew this was how things were, but it's kind of heartbreaking to see the evidence of our decline.

Rusty said...

"Dicking Bimbos at Home" That would be a great name for a grunge band.

Brando said...

"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent."

Whether outside of their dalliances with Bill Clinton they are intelligent people, the very fact that anyone would have an affair with that man considering his known history makes them very unintelligent. So at least in terms of their willingness to screw around with him, they are bimbos.

And Clinton's record of women he goes after does not suggest alluring, sophisticated ladies. These aren't high society tramps.

Brando said...

"Dicking Bimbos at Home" That would be a great name for a grunge band.

Or at least a great album name for the band "High Society Tramps."

Earnest Prole said...

Bill so very obviously has an arrangement with his wife, so who should really care where he sticks his dick? The interesting portion of your quote is the rest: "A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational . . . " That is as succinct a distillation of Hillary as I've seen.

Unknown said...

"Bimbo" word choice apart, Powell is showing good judgement here. Hillary has qualities worthy of respect, but Powell is aware of the downsides too. I'd rather have a sane and competent Republican to vote for, but that's not happening this time around.

AllenS said...

Sounds to me, that if given a chance between a bimbo and Hillary, Bill will chose bimbo every time. Why would he want to spend time with some unhealthy old woman?

Etienne said...

Powell still thinks he's on the A-list. He can talk like he is, but after losing two wars (if not more) in the middle-east, his value as an American is zero.

Can't he just die of cancer or something, maybe shoot himself would be an honorable exit?

Gusty Winds said...

Dicking Bimbos sounds like a lot of fun.

Rusty said...

You Too Can Dick Bimbos at Home In Your Spare Time!!!!

Clyde said...

Would you prefer "starfuckers"?

Doug said...

Dicking Bimbos would be a great name for a rock band, as Dave Barry might say.

James Pawlak said...

What is the term for a male "Bimbo"? A "Bill"?

Doug said...

coupe - I wish no harm or fatal illness on anyone, not even Shrillary! But Colin Powell is and has been stealing oxygen from deserving humans for many a year.

tim in vermont said...

What is the term for a male "Bimbo"? A "Bill"?

A cad.

tim in vermont said...

I'm trying to think, whose emails do I want to see hacked and leaked next by Russian intelligence to influence the course of the presidential election? - readering

So your position is that the Russians, if they are the ones who hacked these emails, not some disgusted leaker like Climategate, that the Russians also made them say these things?

tim in vermont said...

Maybe Putin poisoned Hillary like he did that other guy.

If Hillary wants to drag us into wars with Putin, as she seems to have in Syria, maybe she should take into account that he can fight back. And if we are all to be dragged into Hillary's war with Putin, maybe we should be told the reasons before we all start dancing to Hillary's war drums the way readering appears to be.

tim in vermont said...

Why is it so hard to believe that peace activists like Assange would oppose Hillary on the basis of working for peace?

Unknown said...

Dicking bimbos from home sounds like the ultimate spam scam.

pdug said...

We need occasional misogyny and misandry, to keep us from thinking of ourselves too virtuously. So bimbos galore.

Many people become empty headed when sex is on the line. With men, we joke about how they're thinking with the 'wrong head'. With women, they're bimbos if they can't subdue their fleshly lusts against the better angels of their nature.

JAORE said...

Hard to believe the term Himbo has not made an appearance before this.

I was going to suggest Billbo - but the name was (phonetically) taken.

Dan Hossley said...

"Women aren't bimbo's", well not all women but some are. I think Powell was referring to the one's Bill was dicking. Getting dicked by Bill Clinton is the very definition of bimbo.

Ann Althouse said...

For those of you who wonder why I didn't say more about the word "bimbo," it is something that I've discussed on the blog before.

From a March 2015 post:

"When I hear "bimbo," I think of "bimbo eruptions," a term coined by Governor Bill Clinton's chief of staff Betsey Ross Wright:

'As deputy chair of the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, Wright established the rapid response system that was responsible for defending Clinton's record in Arkansas and promptly answering all personal attacks on the candidate. During the 1992 campaign, Wright coined the term "bimbo eruptions" to describe rumors alleging extramarital affairs by Clinton.' ...

"By the way, "bimbo" originally referred to a male, as the "o" ending suggests. (It means "baby" in the original Italian.) The oldest English usage is for "A fellow, chap; usu. contemptuous." That goes back to 1919, with the female meaning arriving a decade later: "A woman; esp. a whore." That's from the (unlinkable) OED, which has a draft addition from 2004: "derogatory. A young woman considered to be sexually attractive but of limited intelligence. (Now the usual sense.)" The OED quotes a Woody Allen story from 1976, "The Whore of Mensa":

'"I'm on the road a lot. You know how it is - lonely. Oh, not what you're thinking. See, Kaiser, I'm basically an intellectual. Sure, a guy can meet all the bimbos he wants. But the really brainy women - they're not so easy to find on short notice."'

"ADDED: I searched for "bimbo" in Carl Bernstein's book about Hillary "A Woman in Charge," and I found this quote from "one of her aides":

'She doesn’t look at her life as a series of crises but rather a series of battles. I think of her viewing herself in more heroic terms, an epic character like in The Iliad, fighting battle after battle. Yes, she succumbs to victimization sometimes, in that when the truth becomes too painful, when she is faced with with the repercussions of her own mistakes or flaws, she falls into victimhood. But that’s a last resort and when she does allow the wallowing it’s only in the warm glow of martyrdom—as a laudable victim—a martyr in the tradition of Joan of Arc, a martyr in the religious sense. She would much rather play the woman warrior—whether it’s against the bimbos, the press, the other party, the other candidate, the right-wing. She’s happiest when she’s fighting, when she has identified the enemy and goes into attack mode…. That’s what she thrives on more than anything—the battle.'"

And from a January 2016 post about Trump's statement " "I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!":

"And that makes me want to stop and think about whether Trump was playing at the genius level when he floated the term "bimbo" in the Kelly context. Not only did he have his (somewhat ludicrous) out — that he said he wouldn't call Kelly a bimbo — but he also meant to get people talking about the word bimbo — what does it mean? how bad is it? when can it be used? — because he anticipated — several moves ahead in this chess game — that people would arrive at the most notable use of "bimbo" in American politics, "bimbo eruptions," and it's Hillary Clinton who will get hurt the most."

Freeman Hunt said...

An ethics question:

Aren't news agencies publishing Powell's hacked emails equivalent to people buying stolen cars?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Dear Professor (what shall we call you when you retire?)

"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent."

What makes you say that?

tim in vermont said...

"Bimbo connotes attractiveness with low intelligence. I doubt if the women Bill spends time with are unintelligent."

Exactly! The very few "low intelligence" types he "spent time with" ended up accusing him of rape, sexual assault, and sexual coercion! Now he just sticks to women who know the score and will keep their mouths shut.

Gospace said...

rcocean said...

Difference between the sexes. For everyone man under 35 who dreams of sex with Hillary there are 500 women who dream of sex with Bill.


There's a man under 35 who dreams of sex with Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife, corrupt alcoholic enabler of her sexual predator husband? Who? Where? I want to stay far away from anyone that demented. At 61, I don't know any male of any age who desires her. And, BTW, even though I don't know her husband, I'm pretty sure, by his behavior, that includes him.

There aren't enough beers in the world to make desirable.

Known Unknown said...

"Difference between the sexes. For everyone man under 35 who dreams of sex with Hillary there are 500 women who dream of sex with Bill."

So by my calculations, that would make zero of both. (500 x 0 = 0)

SukieTawdry said...

Hey, thanks for the laughs, Colin. I needed them.

I'm amazed at the kinds of things public figures will commit to email. It's like they think there's an expectation of privacy on the Internet or something.

LA_Bob said...

For what it's worth, "Bimbo" was the name of a male pilot whale in Marineland of the Pacific (Palos Verdes, California) in the 1960's.

https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/one-dolphins-story-bimbo/

jg said...

colin knows the clintons fairly well. perhaps clinton can't stand a bright women - they all better be bimbos or at least act the part.

but seriously, fair point that they're probably not - classy, bright starfuckers also want some.

Anonymous said...

Any woman who has sex with a man she knows is married to someone else is, indeed, a bimbo.

Also, a moral turd.

Yes, Bill Clinton is a moral turd for cheating on Hillary. But "it takes two to tango." Every woman who helps him cheat is just as much of a moral turd.