Althouse: "I know Arianna doesn’t like it. But I like taupe."

October 13, 2010

"I know Arianna doesn’t like it. But I like taupe."

Obama stands up to his critics in the press.

77 comments:

Synova said...: Taupe?; 10/13/10, 12:47 PM
ndspinelli said...: With 2 wars, Obama would have been wise to have kept the bust of Churchill in his office.; 10/13/10, 12:47 PM
Unknown said...: This IS the whitest white guy in the history of white people, let alone the Presidency.; 10/13/10, 12:48 PM
Anonymous said...: "With 2 wars, Obama would have been wise to have kept the bust of Churchill in his office.'

You've got 'Hope' and 'Change' and you expect 'Wisdom' too?; 10/13/10, 12:52 PM
Anonymous said...: "I know Arianna doesn’t like it. But I like taupe."

Excellent! Soros doesn't have to give him his orders directly. He can use Huffington as a cut-out.; 10/13/10, 1:00 PM
Joe said...: (The Crypto Jew)

“Taupe”???? Rly could you be more metro-sexual than that, not that there’s anything wrong with it. As guys, we do NOT use the word “taupe”…we use “brown.” Michelle O may use taupe, Althouse may use taupe…guys may not and keep their Man-Cards. I guess it’s Ok to use various degrees of “red”, fire engine red, candy-apple red, but ONLY when referring to the colour of sports cars. Beyond that, blue, black, green, brown, white, are the only colours allowed..no taupe, no mauve, no sienna, Kelly green, no sea foam green, or the like….

Had they simply interviewed Obama, prior to 2008, and let him use “taupe” in the interview, he’d have lost 40-50% of the male vote, right there. I imagine that even T. Coddington Voorhees and C4 would have questioned their decisions to vote for the man. Sure, Althouse, Dame Noonan, Kathleen Parker, and the other womon voters, Davids Brooks and Frum, would have been confirmed in their votes, but a large number of men might have reconsidered…IF ONLY, the Press had done their job!; 10/13/10, 1:07 PM
Unknown said...: ndspinelli said...

With 2 wars, Obama would have been wise to have kept the bust of Churchill in his office.

One war - 2 campaigns.

Saying 2 wars (letting the Lefty media cast the War on Terror into 'good' and 'bad' wars was one of Dubya's biggest mistakes) is like saying Winnie fought 10 wars (Norway, France, Italy, Greece, Western Desert, French North Africa, Syria, Abyssinia, Iraq, and Burma).; 10/13/10, 1:19 PM
Anonymous said...: “we probably spent much more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right. There is probably a perverse pride in my administration — and I take responsibility for this; this was blowing from the top — that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.”

This quote demonstrates how he doesn't regret any policy decisions, only perception and message. Anybody who things he'll pull a Clinton after the midterm and slide to the center clearly hasn't been paying attention.; 10/13/10, 1:27 PM
Hagar said...: "This IS the whitest white guy in the history of white people, let alone the Presidency."

edutcher wins the thread!; 10/13/10, 1:29 PM
Shanna said...: Stuff White People Like...Taupe! That has to be one, right?

He also likes ray bans and st patricks day.; 10/13/10, 1:31 PM
SteveR said...: He has spent what one aide called “a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0” with his new interim chief of staff, Pete Rouse, and his deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina.

Talking will only get a repeat of Obama 1.0, try listening. Is he proud that he doesn't listen to anyone but himself?

I liked Jim Messina's work with Poco and Buff Springfield better than with Obama.; 10/13/10, 1:35 PM
traditionalguy said...: Taupe is a pastel brown color. Pastel is Obama's schtick since all of his positions are pastels blending in with whatever strong color he wants to say he is for....until he can unexpectedly become a red color or a black color on that subject.; 10/13/10, 1:40 PM
David said...: Taupe?

The guy likes "taupe?"

Most guys don't have a clue what taupe is.

Maybe he's the first gay president after all.

(By the way, NYT today reports that Obama wishes he had known that there is actually no such thing as a "shovel ready" project.)

Has Obama ever used a shovel, other than for ceremonial purposes?; 10/13/10, 1:54 PM
Tank said...: Taupe ?

Jesus.

Clinton was the first black president, and Obama's the first woman.; 10/13/10, 1:55 PM
Tank said...: Real men don't eat taupe.

WTF is taupe anyway?

In golf, if you don't reach the women's tees with your tee shot, you have to pull down your pants and prove you're a man.

I think it's the same with taupe.; 10/13/10, 1:57 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I couldn't believe that the NYT had at least eight pages of this pandering puff about the President. Did anyone here actually read the entire article. I barely got through the first screen.

I think that his big problem here as an interior decorator is not his color schemes, but, rather, his use of the word "taupe". As noted, this isn't a word used by straight guys who aren't interior designers.

But overall, it is a color scheme that I could live with as a guy.; 10/13/10, 1:58 PM
Chennaul said...: Oooooh taupe!

I love taupe eyeshadow.

And please people, er dudes taupe is the new greiges.

It is not damn you rubes "pastel brown".

Gray tonals with a bit of brown undertones-it's complicated, nuanced-you cannot hope to understand it.; 10/13/10, 2:01 PM
Rumpletweezer said...: Joe--

You do remember that he complained about the price of arugula at Whole Foods during the campaign, right? And it was reported, right? I thought that was reason enough not to vote for him because I'M A MAN!; 10/13/10, 2:01 PM
Anonymous said...: "..."taupe". As noted, this isn't a word used by straight guys who aren't interior designers...."

At the risk of my manhood, what word should I be using? Off-white?; 10/13/10, 2:04 PM
traditionalguy said...: Taupe is not just a gay decorator's color. It is actually very masculin and blends well with all of the furniture woods. It also is called Mushroom, and can have a tiuch of green in it. I love decorating homes and elegant offices, so sue me.; 10/13/10, 2:06 PM
Chennaul said...: Cripes I just looked at the photos, it's beige and gold.

Poseur de Taupe.; 10/13/10, 2:07 PM
Brian O'Connell said...: I'm by no means an Obama fan, but I like his use of "taupe" here.

Down with heteronormative chromolexicography!; 10/13/10, 2:08 PM
Chennaul said...: Poseur de Tapis

Found this by accident but since it all started w/ the rug somehow it seems to fit.

President Obama really should stop smoking.; 10/13/10, 2:11 PM
ricpic said...: Taupe is a pseudosophisticate's word for beige. Be of good cheer, when the alien and his paramour no longer pollute the White House red, white and blue will be returned to their rightful place as symbolic colors of the Republic.; 10/13/10, 2:14 PM
jungatheart said...: madawaskan:
"Gray tonals with a bit of brown undertones-it's complicated, nuanced-you cannot hope to understand it."

Precisely so. I thought gray had something to do with taupe. Now from the one pic I saw of the Oval Office, it looked dreadfully bland. He should have denned it up with some warm browns and accents of dark red and hunter green. Not too far, mind, but not straight bland as it is.; 10/13/10, 2:16 PM
Sprezzatura said...: BH,

I read it.

If you hang on you'll find out that one of his favorite Rs is from WI. And, his other favorite R has been extremely critical of him.; 10/13/10, 2:18 PM
jungatheart said...: ndspinelli:
"With 2 wars, Obama would have been wise to have kept the bust of Churchill in his office."

Who's that Blue-collar comedian that works with Jeff Foxworthy who says, 'there's your sign'?; 10/13/10, 2:18 PM
David said...: Experience counts:

Washington: Commander of Revolutionary Army.
Jefferson: Author of Declaration of Independence.
Madison: Coauthor, Federalist Papers.
Jackson: Planter, Duelist, Military Hero.
Lincoln: Railsplitter, Superlawyer, Champion Debater, Original Thinker.
Grant: Horseman, Tanner, Hardscrabble Farmer, Military Officer, Commander of Union Armies in Civil War.
T. Roosevelt: Pioneer Conservationist, Military Hero, Governor of New York.
Hoover: Outstanding Engineer, Leader of Pioneer Relief Efforts Following WWI and Great Mississippi Delta Flood, Investor and Successful Capitalist.
F. Roosevelt: Assistant Secretary of Navy, Governor of New York, Overcame Polio.
Truman: Military Office WWI, Failed Small Businessman in Depression, Twice Elected U.S. Senator.
Eisenhower: Aide to MacArthur in Philippines, Pioneer Surveyor of American Highway System, Commander in Chief, Allied Forces, WWII.
Kennedy: Military Officer, War Hero, Experienced Legislator.
LBJ: U.S. Senate Majority Leader.
Nixon: Governor of California, Successful Lawyer, Vice President of U.S.
Reagan: Governor of California, Union Leader and Organizer, Student of U.S. History.
Bush 41: First Republican Congressman from Texas since Reconstruction, Vice President, Head of CIA.
Clinton: Governor of Arkansas.
Bush 43: Governor of Texas, Jet Pilot.

Barack Hussein Obama:Gopher in Second Tier Wall Street Firm, "Community Organizer," Part Time Lawyer, Part Time Law Lecturer, Undistinguished Illinois Legislator, Two Tears U.S. Senate Spent Running for President.; 10/13/10, 2:20 PM
jungatheart said...: BC:
"Down with heteronormative chromolexicography!"

You can't handle the color chart!; 10/13/10, 2:21 PM
Chennaul said...: deborah-

I think we should call it-

Obameige?; 10/13/10, 2:22 PM
David said...: "Two years"; 10/13/10, 2:23 PM
Chennaul said...: You can't handle the color chart!

LOL!; 10/13/10, 2:23 PM
Anonymous said...: Trad:
"..can have a tiuch of green..
Tiuch?Is that more or less than a soupcon?; 10/13/10, 2:24 PM
traditionalguy said...: Taupe is a good choice for smokers because with taupe the brownish covering from smoking in a room for years doesn't look so bad. And I believe I heard Mick say once or twice that Obama's real Kenyan birth certificate has an off brown color, but maybe I don't remember that right.; 10/13/10, 2:25 PM
BJM said...: @edutcher

Exactly, Baker employs the same partisan tropes to frame his questions as those trotted out by WH flacks.

Obama 2.0?

Due to an unexpected error in the 2008 firmware update, it appears that Obama 1.0 is abandonware as of 11/3/2010.; 10/13/10, 2:27 PM
traditionalguy said...: Lars...So sorry. Ask David about how a rogue letter can sneak its way into your punch line. It must be a nemesis for hubristic commenters.; 10/13/10, 2:31 PM
Chennaul said...: trad guy-

Did you see the hamster stomp at the end of that vid...

Yoi!

*****************************

I still say the piece de la resistance is the coffee table.

Picture

ugh.

Let's look at the picture does anybody see taupe?

Ochre.

*bitch slap*

It's ochre people.; 10/13/10, 2:32 PM
Chennaul said...: Or as the "simple people" like to call it-

beige.; 10/13/10, 2:33 PM
SteveR said...: Deborah: Bill Engvall; 10/13/10, 2:34 PM
Chennaul said...: Oops!

Picture Oval Office; 10/13/10, 2:34 PM
jungatheart said...: Poseur de Taupe, love it. I think we should hear tradguy's color name.; 10/13/10, 2:37 PM
Chennaul said...: Look times are hard out there people I'm glad the White House got the Costco office package Carterville.; 10/13/10, 2:38 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Don't mess w/ the table, it's funtional!

"the coffee table had been replaced by a walnut-and-mica table that, Obama noted, would resist stains from water glasses"; 10/13/10, 2:42 PM
Bill Kilgore said...: I prefer mauve. Taupe is for pussies.; 10/13/10, 2:43 PM
jungatheart said...: Ochre, my ass. That's golden mushroom.

Thanks, SteveR.; 10/13/10, 2:44 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "Or as the "simple people" like to call it-

beige."

Or as the "really simple people" like to call it-

light brown; 10/13/10, 2:45 PM
Methadras said...: The president who muscled through Congress perhaps the most ambitious domestic agenda in a generation finds himself vilified by the right, castigated by the left and abandoned by the middle.

Most ambitious domestic agenda? Really? Do these fucking leftards ever hear themselves think, much less talk? So Erkle gets his goons in the house/senate to ramrod this pile of shit legislation known as ObamaCare through, he signs it, it and he are vilified, and now it's considered ambitious? You fucking leftards are an insane bunch of hallucinating nuts. You really are dangerous people. Dangerous to this country, to the citizens of this country, and frankly to the world.; 10/13/10, 2:56 PM
traditionalguy said...: Deborah...I am into my off white walls phase with lots of red, green and white in the 4x8 painting and off red, gold and yellow stripes on the silk love seat fabric and a pale green henredon sofa's red yellow and gold stripped large pillows with a forest green 9x11 rug under it all and a single dark red back wall. Needless to say the side walls have white book shelves loaded with unique books and pictures. Does that make me Presidential material? I also do great wars.; 10/13/10, 2:58 PM
Chennaul said...: 1jpb

Bill Kilgore

I prefer mauve. Taupe is for pussies.

OK gawd I'm laughing too hard and people are starting to look at me weird...

Anyhoo one more cheap shot then I gotta go-

I think his teleprompter told him it was taupe.

Who will defend beige, eh light brown I ask you?; 10/13/10, 3:00 PM
Lincolntf said...: In Chicago, the press fights for you...(if you happen to be Rahm Emanuel and not just another filthy blogger).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sce0TLA5UYE&feature=player_embedded

Via Breitbart/AoS HQ

It's a pretty good YouTube of Rahm's reporter friends defending him.; 10/13/10, 3:01 PM
Anonymous said...: He likes taupe? He is taupe.

A taupe dope...; 10/13/10, 3:06 PM
garage mahal said...: Ooops! Methadras made taupe racing stripes in his underwear again. Whaaa!; 10/13/10, 3:13 PM
Rumpletweezer said...: Trad Guy--
Well, are you going to invite Deborah up to see your etchings? Just want to see if this kind of thing works online.; 10/13/10, 3:15 PM
jungatheart said...: Fer shure, tradguy.; 10/13/10, 3:21 PM
traditionalguy said...: Deborah...Before we can meet, you will need a security clearance from my wife. You will like her. She does look and act like The Closer Brenda Johnson(which was her maiden name). I generally do not lie to her.; 10/13/10, 3:43 PM
Robert Cook said...: No surprise that everyone here is tone deaf: Obama was being consciously ironic. Note his remark..."I know Arianna doesn't like it. But I like taupe." He's using the word "taupe" rather than "brown" or "beige" or another (apparently more acceptable to normal people) word because this is a word he--and we--would imagine Ms. Huffington would use.

More to the point, one might assume he would say, "I know Arianna doesn't like it. But, I...(some explication of a policy he is promoting)," but instead his punchline is a reference to the color of some fabric in his office.

The article is depressing. Obama apparently believes, or pretends to believe, that he is accomplishing good things, as much as can be realistically expected given the politics, at any rate. He's certainly right that the Republicans are being obstructionist, (and not for any well-founded or soundly argued practical reasons, but) simply to stymie any effort he might put forth, to insure his Presidency is a failure.

They needn't have bothered, really, (except that this is reflexive for them...they know no other way); he hamstrung himself by avoiding going for grand attempts and accepting lesser achievements. His attempts were tepid and underwhelming, so his lesser achievements have been about nil. It's not even that he believes in any greater efforts than he has made, but made political decisions to compromise himself; one gets the sense he has internalized this hobbled, timid, hopelessly corrupted compromises to the entrenched political and business interests and sees it as some sort of righteous path!

As others have said, our political culture and system is so corrupted that even someone who was not--as Obama is--dedicated to working the middle at all costs, who was determined to make drastic and dramatic changes, would have little hope of effecting any changes for the better. We're at a terminal stage of empire right now, and we will see virtually no change...until the sudden, catastrophic collapse.; 10/13/10, 3:55 PM
jungatheart said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/13/10, 4:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Tone deaf, eh?

November 2...mark that down Mr. Cook, by about 9-10pm eastern time you will see exactly who it is that is tone deaf...; 10/13/10, 4:24 PM
Synova said...: I don't even know how to pronounce taupe. Does it rhyme with rope or top or Tahoe-p?

(I know it's a color of pantyhose, but that doesn't mean I've heard it *spoken*. Must watch more HGTV I suppose.); 10/13/10, 4:38 PM
jungatheart said...: Rhymes with hope.; 10/13/10, 4:46 PM
KCFleming said...: Geez, after reading the first few paragraphs, I thought the article was in Junior Scholastic .

Is it time for recess yet?; 10/13/10, 4:49 PM
Cedarford said...: Had they simply interviewed Obama, prior to 2008, and let him use “taupe” in the interview, he’d have lost 40-50% of the male vote, right there. I imagine that even T. Coddington Voorhees and C4 would have questioned their decisions to vote for the man.
=============
I admit that "taupe" would have given me enough pause to think it might actually be worth letting a dismal semi-senile cranky fool start a 3rd major war with Iran and a Global Depression.
All the while praying for no recurrance of cancer in the guy because his replacement was unfit for office (even more than McCain, Obama, and Biden).
Seriously. Taupe on top of arugula would have triggered major "out of touch elitist warning" sirens.
And no one in my family would have died in McCain's new neocon wars of adventure. And 250 a barrel oil would have meant draining the pipes, head to Florida place, stock up on 2 years supplies and swap dollars for silver or gold for the duration of McCain's war with Iran on behalf of Israel. Survivable.

===================; 10/13/10, 4:56 PM
master cylinder said...: slow news day?
Obama knows more words than you all apparently do, judging by your shock of the usage of the word taupe.
Bought any clothes in the last decade? Guess you all are still wearing almond or sand. Or more likely harvest gold or burnt orange. You are so predictable, just like my Grandpa.; 10/13/10, 5:19 PM
AllenS said...: His wife picked the color. He's only trying to defend the choice, because if he didn't, Michelle would kick his scrawny ass.; 10/13/10, 5:34 PM
Brian O'Connell said...: Taupe-y change-y enough for ya?; 10/13/10, 5:46 PM
Rocco said...: Robert Cook said:
"No surprise that everyone here is tone deaf: Obama was being consciously ironic... (rest post - nearly as long as the NY Times article - omitted for brevity) ... We're at a terminal stage of empire right now, and we will see virtually no change...until the sudden, catastrophic collapse."

Shorter Robert Cook:
"Hey, I like taupe"; 10/13/10, 5:57 PM
traditionalguy said...: Robert Cook... Why so pessimistic? Elections have consequences, and a monster election is 20 days away. Why any time now we will get a realistic pro CO2 energy usage Regime and make the USA into an industrial giant again.; 10/13/10, 6:00 PM
Palladian said...: Much more damning than his use of the word "taupe" is his reference to "Ariana". "Ariana"?? What? Is it common for Presidents to refer to "journalists" by their first names when they're not present? There's just something revolting about the implicit insularity and collusive feeling of it all.

By the way, Althouse, did you know that 'taupe' means mole in French?
Seems significant, what with all the recent mole talk here.; 10/13/10, 6:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Moles...; 10/13/10, 7:12 PM
master cylinder said...: monster election.......Ill be back to discuss that TG'; 10/13/10, 7:35 PM
Michael said...: Has he jumped the fence? Taupe. Arianna, mom pants, first "pitch," arugula...it adds up.

Robert Cook: If indeed Republicans are "obstructionists" it is not to insure our thin skinned president's "failure" it is rather to stop his stupid ideas from becoming law. There is a distinction with a very big difference.; 10/13/10, 8:19 PM
Methadras said...: garage mahal said...

Ooops! Methadras made taupe racing stripes in his underwear again. Whaaa!

You mean the ones you constantly like to eat? Because against me, you fail every time, scatty.; 10/13/10, 9:27 PM
Methadras said...: AllenS said...

His wife picked the color. He's only trying to defend the choice, because if he didn't, Michelle would kick his scrawny ass.

Captain Kick-Ass to the looooozzzzzeeee!!!; 10/13/10, 9:30 PM
Methadras said...: traditionalguy said...

Robert Cook... Why so pessimistic?

Everyone isn't communist enough for him. Or America hating enough either. This makes for a dower person.; 10/13/10, 9:33 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Obama 2.0?

I think it will be Obama 0.0 on 1/20/2013!

I may make some hats with that on it. Our mailman used to walk around with ones that had 01/20/09 bcause he is a Bush hater.; 10/13/10, 10:00 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Yeah Alhouse- how come he reads Arianna's blog but not yours? Are you chopped liver? [Or maybe you just need to jazz up the blog colors and talk a bit vunny dahling]; 10/13/10, 10:08 PM
Robert Cook said...: "This makes for a dower person."

Dour.; 10/14/10, 7:04 AM