February 5, 2016

Is there a "sexist double standard behind why millennials love Bernie Sanders"?

WaPo's Catherine Rampell says there is.
It is precisely Sanders’s au-naturel-ness that endears him to his young fans: his unkempt hair, his ill-fitting suits, his unpolished Brooklyn accent, his propensity to yell and wave his hands maniacally. Sanders, it appears, woke up like this.

These qualities are what make him seem “authentic,” “sincere” even — especially when contrasted with Clinton’s hyper-scriptedness. Sanders, unlike Clinton, doesn’t give a damn if he’s camera-ready.

This is, of course, a form of authenticity that is off-limits to any female politician, not just one with Clinton’s baggage. Female politicians — at least if they want to be taken seriously on a national stage — cannot be unkempt and unfiltered, hair mussed and voice raised. They have to be carefully coifed and scripted at all times, because they have to hew as closely as possible to the bounds of propriety available to both their sex and their occupation. They can’t be too quiet or too loud, too emotional or too cold, too meek or too aggressive, and so on.

But they also can’t appear to be trying too hard, either. At least if they want the kind of enthusiastic millennial support that Sanders enjoys.
I have 10 problems with this:

1. Bernie's hair is actually not unkempt. It's neatly trimmed. It may look misshapen in the balding areas, but it's thick around the bottom and looks very carefully cut. It's also very clean and combed in place. He doesn't rub it with his hands or muss it up. He's not Doc from "Back to the Future." He's not Einstein.

2. Bernie doesn't wave his hands maniacally. He makes rather large hand gestures, but they are slow and deliberately coordinated with his speech, as if he's placing the words in the air in front of him. That's why it worked so well in "Bad Lip Reading" when they had Bernie reciting a poem.

3. Bernie is able to put himself out there in a form that seems to be something close to what he really is — a politician of many decades, repeating his old lines like "The American economy is rigged." It's an old habit, and it's not that hard. I don't think he's even been trying to win, so it's a pretty simple task. It's straightforward expression, and people do indeed respond to that, especially while it remains in the expressive category and they're not (yet) squarely facing up to the reality of this man as President.

4. So compare him to a woman who's in the same position, someone entering the race to say the things that are not being said and not carrying the burden of all the expectations — that she's supposed to win and that everyone else has gotten out of her way and that now she'd better be able to make good on what she led them all to think she could do. I could imagine such a woman. Elizabeth Warren could have played that role, and I think people would have loved it. Why didn't she jump in? Maybe because she would have wanted to win, and that's a much more complex task.

5. Bernie's clothes are indeed very ordinary. Just a generic man's suit. An everyman's uniform. Could a woman come up with something equivalent? Hillary hasn't tried to do that, so show me a woman who says that's what I'm going to do and see what they say. Only then would you get a fair reading of whether there's a double standard. Have a woman candidate wear a plain white blouse under a dark gray blazer and a dark gray straight mid-knee-length skirt — wear the same thing every day — and see if there is criticism or celebration. My bet is that people would love it.

6. As for the woman's hair, maybe it can't be dirty or badly cut, but it doesn't need to be an ultra-controlled helmet. I think people would be quite happy to see the hair fall naturally and move like real hair, and a well-cut feminine hairstyle is supposed to be mussable. Talk to a good hair dresser. I'll bet he or she would be horrified to be asked to fix a woman's hair like Hillary's and would much rather cut something short and choppy that you're supposed to muss to get the right look. Think: Helen Mirren. Don't tell me that won't work. Hillary's helmet hair does not prove that Hillary's helmet hair is required because she's a woman. Sometimes it's hard to be a woman... the old Tammy Wynette song begins. But it's not that hard.

7. Do men have more freedom in the tone of their voice? Maybe. I'm inclined to think that volume and stress in a woman's voice is offputting to many people. There's a trigger point where they'll use words like "strident," "nagging," and "sounds like my ex-wife." But I'm not willing to believe people would reject a woman who came out and talked something like Bernie Sanders. Listen to Bella Abzug (from 1977):



I think we'd love to embrace a presidential candidate who looked and talked like that. (By the way, the hat is another answer to what to do about your hair.)

8. I don't believe that a female candidate has "to hew as closely as possible to the bounds of propriety available to both their sex and their occupation." How do we know? Where is the woman in the race who is challenging this idea and getting rejected because of it? Looking excessively bound to "propriety" isn't much of a recommendation, but in fact, all the candidates are expected to behave. Trump transgresses. We'll see how that works out for him in the end. It is hard to imagine a female Trump. I'll grant you that. Perhaps liberals would celebrate such a woman (assuming her politics were liberal).

9. "They can’t be too quiet or too loud, too emotional or too cold, too meek or too aggressive, and so on." Maybe so, but what's the midrange that's permissible? How narrow is it? I think a lot depends on the individual, and if you are trying too hard to calibrate it, you're going to seem phony and unnatural. That "can't be too" list doesn't include "they can't be too phony or too natural." Be natural! Let us see who you really are. If we don't like you, we don't like you. When we see fake, we're on guard that you are putting something over on us. We're right to be sensitive to that.

10. "But they also can’t appear to be trying too hard...." That sounds like it means poor Hillary has to try hard not to look as though she's trying too hard. That's a hell of a lot of trying. An alternative is to let your natural self shine through. If you've got one.

96 comments:

Dan Hossley said...

Just another example of the Hillary machine playing the victim card. Pathetic really. That could be the reason that young people are going for Bernie.

mccullough said...

Hillary has been in the public eye for almost 25 years. Sanders has been in DC for 25 years but almost no one heard of him before he ran for president.

Hillary is just to well known to draw any conclusions about sexist double standards. Maybe 18-24 year olds aren't that familiar with Hillary but her public persona is so transparently phony (and has been since at least 1992) that she's impossible to compare.

Ben Carson has an unusually soft spoken demeanor for someone running for president, but it comes across as genuine. It's not an effective means of communication (maybe because he never varies his tone), which shows it must be genuine. Is it a racist double standard to say it's unfair to criticize Carson's communications skills at debates because he can't bluster like Christie and Trump or he'll be the Angry Black Man?

cubanbob said...

"It is precisely Sanders’s au-naturel-ness that endears him to his young fans:"

Sanders is an authentic communist. Hillary is a fascist masquerading as a "woman of the people". Some people like their beer natural and full flavored rather than lite and artificially flavored.

Anonymous said...

A wacky grandpa vs a meanie grandma. The choice is clear.

Bay Area Guy said...

Yeah, I didn't know Democrat party voters were so sexist.

It really is troubling. They should allow Hillary to campaign with unkempt hair and ordinary clothes, while making sweeping hand gestures, with high decibel level yelling. Yes, it is truly unfair.

You go Hillary! You should be allowed to dress and act exactly like Bernie.

Anthony said...

The Universities, big cities, Hollywood and now the Bernie Bros -- why are all the prog run spaces such hotbeds of racism and sexism?

buwaya said...

" his propensity to yell and wave his hands maniacally.'
In this I find the telling resemblance to myself.
Much more so than Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, or Hilary, the yelling and proudly maniacal presentation appeals profoundly to my nature.
I can only sympathize with such a reasonable approach to life.

buwaya said...

"Female politicians — at least if they want to be taken seriously on a national stage — cannot be unkempt and unfiltered, hair mussed and voice raised."

I don't know - No American politician has done it this way, but that may just be a lack of imagination. Dolores Ibarruri ("La Pasionaria") was quite successful in Spain, in a much more conservative time.

MadisonMan said...

The Hillary apologist who wrote that forgot all about Howard Dean.

Big Mike said...

He's not Einstein.

You can say that again!

An alternative is to let your natural self shine through. If you've got one.

I take it you don't think Hillary has a natural self anymore? Me either.

buwaya said...

"Could a woman come up with something equivalent? '
As for clothing - I agree, she certainly could.
Again, not an issue in 1930's Spain - the standard black Spanish womens dress served perfectly for all occasions for Dolores Ibarruri.
Alternately, for the sake of branding, the American left could adopt a uniform. We all recall the Mao suit, the Nehru jacket of the Indian Congress party, etc. The Spanish left went a long way in that direction with the "mono" - workmans blue overalls. Even the girls were wearing it. Think Rosie the Riveter.

Martha said...

Want to see Hillary! au naturel without helmet hair or super girdle or make-up?

Click if you dare:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2720212/A-straw-visor-muumuu-Hillary-SoulCycle-shorts-Bill-Relaxed-Clintons-enjoy-downtime-beach-dogs.html

Dopey said...

Professor, you were right to bring up Bella Abzug. And in modern times we have the hydra-headed Debbie Wassermann Schultz. Both fall into the unkempt Bernie category. But I doubt that Abzug could have gotten a vote west of the Hudson or north of the Bronx, and Wassermann Schultz would have the same problem north of Boca. We like our crazy uncles; crazy aunts, not so much.

Quaestor said...

I chose not to listen to Bella Abzug. Clenching isn't good for the teeth.

Bernie is an unaffected man, or to put it more accurately, so practiced that his affectations seem unaffected. He's been working on this American Trotsky routine for the better part of a century so one should expect a certain facility.

If women can't compete in the unaffected presentation department they have no one to blame but themselves. As usual feminists insist on eating the cake and having it too.

rehajm said...

Why are so many young’uns feeling the Bern? I see two main reasons. The first is that, to millennials, Sanders’s socialism is a feature, not a bug.

Author shoulda ended it right there.

Big Mike said...

@Martha, I followed your link. I needed some eyewash.

@Althouse, if my legs looked as bad as Bill Clinton's, I wouldn't wear shorts ever again.

Bay Area Guy said...

Janis Joplin kinda sorta went "au naturel" when performing. The girl could sing though, so nobody cared.

Maybe Hillary should cultivate the Janis Joplin look for her next big speech at Goldman Sachs.

johns said...

Sarah Palin. She doesn't restrain herself because women can't be as loud and expressive as men. Some might say she didn't win, either. but she was only running for VP. She had a 80% approval rating when she was Gov of Alaska

tim in vermont said...

Hillary, Hillary! She's our man; if she can't do it, no one can!

When are they going to accept that Hillary is a lousy politician, on a par with Martha Coakly, running for the Senate in Massachusetts and misspelling the state name, while expressing disgust at the fans waiting outside of Fenway to see the Red Sawx.

Saint Croix said...

What are the fashion faux pas of Karl Marx?

And here's the happy Commie, Chairman Mao!

mccullough said...

If Hillary had the communication skills of Sarah Palin,the Bernie fanboys and fangirls would like her better.

tim in vermont said...

Was Maggie Thatcher some kind of telegenic sex goddess?

Michael K said...

"Sarah Palin. She doesn't restrain herself because women can't be as loud and expressive as men."

I wondering if anyone would bring her up. I think a big reason why the Democrats went after her with such fury is that she is genuine and reached a lot of people. I remember when she did her first book signing and the leftist reporters were desperate to find someone in line who sounded as stupid as they all thought her fans would be.

Michael K said...

"Was Maggie Thatcher some kind of telegenic sex goddess?"

No, but she was genuine and Britain needs her desperately now and she is gone.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Martha

Thanks for the Hillary photos! The visuals made my day. She is wearing a blue Muumuu at the beach -- a Bluemuu?

She should wear the Bluemuu at the next TownHall Meeting with Bernie, I say.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

No. It's because their parents are totally fucked in the head and the kids are hoping maybe Grampa can help them out with a bunch of free stuff.

Fritz said...

No liberals ever complained about Sarah Palin's voice, right?

jimbino said...

I don't believe that a female candidate has "to hew as closely as possible to the bounds of propriety available to both their sex and their occupation."

How can intelligent people speak/write like this? The candidate, who is a female, has to hew...to both her sex and her occupation. What's with the stupid singular their?

Skeptical Voter said...

On the tone of voice; Dennis Miller had it absolutely right in 2008 when he said that Hillary (after listening to a cut of her shrieking) "sounded like my first ex wife."

Men hear that voice and scurry (a feminist would say) like cockroaches to the nearest exit.

Sebastian said...

Only 10?

Face it, Hillary! lies even about herself. (I'm paying her the compliment that she has a real self to lie about. Unlike a certain high-placed politician.)

Bob Loblaw said...

Hillary supporters are getting desperate. Once they go with "racism" and "sexism" you know they've reached the end of the playbook.

She's a criminal without any accomplishments of her own. What can they do but attack Sanders?

Francisco D said...

I am completely shocked at the power of sexism.

Rich, politically connected and press-protected women even suffer from it.

Oh, the horror! The horror!


-Waiting for Dagny Taggart (Si. Yu soy "Cisco")

Francisco D said...

Yu = Yo

Damn autocorrect!

Paddy O said...

People tend to assess the rationality of others within the rationality of their own prioritized system. The trouble is that systems don't communicate across systems, so such assessment of rationality only makes sense to those within the same system. If someone is only looking at issues from the perspective of sex and gender, then Bernie's maleness is the key factor, from a moral system, it's his apparent integrity, from an economic system, his socialism. We accuse others of being irrational when it's not our system they're working in.

Paddy O said...

(I've been reading a lot of Niklas Luhmann of late)

Dust Bunny Queen said...

There's a trigger point where they'll use words like "strident," "nagging," and "sounds like my ex-wife."

The issue is a lack of voice training. A woman may have a decent even calming speaking voice in her normal register it changes when she wants to get loud,forceful and project her voice.

Women tend to become nasal and use a higher register and thus sound shriller. Palin and Hillary are both guilty of this and tend to have voices when at higher volume grate...painfully on the ear.

A professional singer and a coached speaker learns to project from the diaphragm instead of from the head, upper throat and nasal area. You don't need to be shrill....you need to learn HOW to project and speak. Some voice lessons, breath control and using the diaphragm.

Ctmom4 said...

I disagree that Hillary could pull off that Helen Mirren hairstyle - Mirren can because she is still a very attractive woman. Hillary, not so much. Hillary has an unpleasant voice to begin with, so raising the decibel level makes it unbearable. But I think there is something odd about her demeanor this time.I don't know if it is desperation, or physical ailments. She sounded drunk in that victory speech. Her eyes look very strange all the time, and her face is often flushed. I think she is in worse health than they let on.

buwaya said...

La Pasionaria Dolores Ibarruri -
Sample of loud speechifying -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vvMNcILMD4

buwaya said...

How does one dress communist women ?
Lots of ideas here -
http://www.sbhac.net/Republica/Imagenes/Mujeres/Mujeres.htm

Note much use of the workmans "mono" overalls.
The Democrats are amazingly poor at branding and images.

garage mahal said...

No. It's because their parents are totally fucked in the head and the kids are hoping maybe Grampa can help them out with a bunch of free stuff.

No. It's because our generation left them with a giant pile of dogshit and Sanders is the only candidate they they see that gives them any hope for more opportunity. Millennials do love Sanders, but they hate both parties. Who can blame them?

tds said...

Donald gets 100x more s**t for his hair than any female politician

Fabi said...

Last week I agreed with three of ARM's comments and today I agree with one of garage's. I need a drink.

Virgil Hilts said...

Re Ann's comment about Elizabeth Warren running.
I've set it before . . . Warren only got away with the Fauxcahontas crap because she was in Mass. (where you can run your car into Chappaquiddick and let your date drown without even trying to save her, or as AG railroad a bunch of innocent people into prison as part of a witch hunt and fight their release even after their innocence is established beyond all reasonable dispute). She should stay where she is.

Leora said...

Hillary comes across much more fake than Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Kay Bailey Hutchison Angela Merkel or Geraldine Ferrero. It's her problem, not society's.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Female politicians — at least if they want to be taken seriously on a national stage — cannot be unkempt and unfiltered, hair mussed and voice raised.

Riiiiight. Which explains why female rock stars never have the respect given to Janis Joplin, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, P!nk.

Forget the male-female bullshit. This whole divide is between the uptight phony idiotic women and the women who are not uptight, phony and idiotic. (And usually younger ;-))

SGT Ted said...

It's just the bullshit excuse for a horrid candidate. She was horrid in 2008 and got beat by candidate that didn't suck.

She is a horrid candidate because she has zero charisma beyond her rabid true believers who are feminist bigots, she is transparently phony and a huge liar.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I could imagine such a woman. Elizabeth Warren could have played that role, and I think people would have loved it. Why didn't she jump in?

The Draft Elizabeth Warren campaign was folded into Bernie's campaign once she definitively ruled out the run. And I'm not surprised she did, as she wants to have a career. Men who oppose Hillary are merely told they're sexist pigs. Women who oppose Hillary are crushed in a Wagnerian drama.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I'll bet he or she would be horrified to be asked to fix a woman's hair like Hillary's and would much rather cut something short and choppy that you're supposed to muss to get the right look. Think: Helen Mirren."

Helen Mirren: Yes.

And Helen can pull off 'bedroom hair.'

I am not going to put 'Hillary' and 'bedroom hair' in the same sentence.

Except I guess I just did.

How did THAT feel, America?


I am Laslo.

mccullough said...

Garage,

Good point. Sanders does a good job describing the problems we have and, to a lesser extent, how they came about. But his solutions are pretty bad. The other candidates proposals aren't really any good either but they wouldn't be as damaging. I don't think Sanders could get any of his proposals through Congress. The opposition would be overwhelming and bipartisan.

I'm interested in how he would respond then. Would he compromise to get a much smaller proposal through? Would be threaten to veto anything until his demands were met? Would be just muddle through like W in 2007?

FullMoon said...

iBay Area Guy said... [hush]​[hide comment]

Janis Joplin kinda sorta went "au naturel" when performing. The girl could sing though, so nobody cared.

Maybe Hillary should cultivate the Janis Joplin look for her next big speech at Goldman Sachs.

Was kind of a style back then. Spoke with her at Avalon Ballroom. A really nice person.

FullMoon said...

Bernie's appeal is stupidly simple Free college, free health care, and Fuck the Establishment.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Janis Joplin kinda sorta went "au naturel" when performing. The girl could sing though, so nobody cared.

Maybe Hillary should cultivate the Janis Joplin look for her next big speech at Goldman Sachs.


Exactly! Man, are her followers complete morons!

I love this moment in politics. We really have a golden opportunity here to throw out the bums in each party and the dunderheaded political fads of each side. If it goes to waste I will not be happy.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

I remember all those strident denunciations of people making fun of Palin's voice, mannerisms, and appearance. SNL and the Daily Show led the way, pushing back against obvious sexism...didn't they?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Women: For God's Sake, Sort Yourselves Out!

You're leaking, aging, hairy, overweight, and everything hurts. And your children's clothes are filthy.

FullMoon said...

HoodlumDoodlum said...

I remember all those strident denunciations of people making fun of Palin's voice, mannerisms, and appearance. SNL and the Daily Show led the way, pushing back against obvious sexism...didn't they?


I am a Palin fan. Her voice is annoying after awhile. So is Hillary's.

garage mahal said...

I don't think Sanders could get any of his proposals through Congress. The opposition would be overwhelming and bipartisan.

I was hoping Sanders would gut the corrupt rat ship that is the DNC wide open last night, once and for all. Tell the general public just how badly they've been fucked over so that they can keep their money and power. He's 73 and not even a Democrat. Just do it!

MacMacConnell said...

I've seen Helen Mirren naked, Hillary in her best days was no Helen Mirren. Even with a great hair doo Hillary is still a grifter.

Ann Althouse said...

"I was hoping Sanders would gut the corrupt rat ship that is the DNC wide open last night, once and for all. Tell the general public just how badly they've been fucked over so that they can keep their money and power. He's 73 and not even a Democrat. Just do it!"

Clearly, he doesn't want to. He is pulling his punches. Why?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Clearly, he doesn't want to. He is pulling his punches. Why?

The Clinton machine is just too strong to do that. He needs to be muted or surreptitious. Open warfare with the Clintons is fraught with danger, or doomed to fail. He's better off seeing if he can keep up the momentum and getting more delegates than her. And he needs to keep making inroads with the old folks committed to her, many of whom remain 2nd-wave feminists who just can't wait for Clinton to go all-out-Amazon and declare the old Brooklynite the worst sexist chauvinist pig evar! (Which is usually her core argument for getting elected anyway).

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I think the shorter explanation is this: The only way to make a woman running on gender alone stumble and lose is to be even nicer than she is. The core argument for woman-as-superior-leader (a la Clinton) is that women in power are just nicer, more empathetic and understanding!

So Bernie has to keep connecting in the way Obama did. Out-Empathizing the contender for Maternalist-in-Chief. Out-Compassioning her. Just one foot over the line into possibly meaner than Hillary puts him back into insufficiently feminine territory, and then she flags him with another yellow card by the referee for the sexist-chauvinist-evildoer.

mccullough said...

There are probably a few reasons he doesn't go for the jugular. It might hurt his appeal with Democratic primary voters. Although the millenials might cheer him on if he went after Hillqry and Ben harder, he needs to attract older voters (especially women and minorities) if he wants to be the nominee. He's slashed Hillary enough that she's bleeding but how much would it help him to try and put the wooden stake through her heart and the clove of garlic around her neck? He's doing pretty well and needs to grow his support. You win by getting votes. Intensity of support is important in getting donations and volunteers but he needs votes to win.

Also, he knows he probably won't beat her so what good would it do? He's getting a huge platform to get his views out, which is also important to him. He's not a fringe candidate. He's getting major publicity. Going more negative might distract from his main messages.

And he could be worried that the Democratic Party might isolate him if he goes to hard after her. If he wins, he'll need DNC support for GOTV, etc. I don't think he's as worried about them isolating him if he loses. He's been in DC 25 y are and wasn't much of a player. He did get to chair the Veterans Affairs committee, but that wasn't a plum committee. Plus, he's 75 and not going to be in politics that much longer. It's not like he's 45.


rcocean said...

"Clearly, he doesn't want to. He is pulling his punches. Why?"

He's not stupid. He doesn't expect to win. He never expected to win. As someone said he's the Washington Generals. After all, there has to be some opposition. The Democrats can't hold Hillary's coronation in January. They had to run somebody.

Plus, its a chance for Crazy Bernie to get some free publicity, hike up those speaking fees in the future. And who knows, maybe there's a potential cabinet job with President Hillary.

rcocean said...

And you can be sure the DNC doesn't want Hillary roughed up and damaged going into the General Election. I'm sure Bernie has a no enemies to the Left philosophy.

Michael K said...

"A woman may have a decent even calming speaking voice in her normal register it changes when she wants to get loud,forceful and project her voice."

There is a woman on LA radio in the morning who has the nicest voice. She has been on for thirty years. Her name is Terri Rae Elmer and she even had a shot at her own morning show 25 years ago but it didn't get the ratings, I guess. She does news on KABC and has one of the nicest female voices in the business.

Sarah Palin can get a bit strident but still was so genuine that the Democrats panicked and went after her with everything, including a couple of RINOs like Nicole Wallace.

Michael K said...

" I'm sure Bernie has a no enemies to the Left philosophy."

Bernie just better never go near Fort Marcy Park. I'm sure he knows that.

Zach said...

For some reason, the author skips past "Hillary is a terrible candidate" to alight on "Hillary is a terrible candidate because of sexism!"

A candidate with no real constituency, a lesser member of a political dynasty, eight or ten years past their political peak, with lots of money but an unconvincing message -- are we talking about Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush?

Automatic_Wing said...

Another thing Obama lied about. She's not likable enough and never was.

madAsHell said...

Abzug is a German word. It means subtract, dump or discount.

Zach said...

The issue is a lack of voice training. A woman may have a decent even calming speaking voice in her normal register it changes when she wants to get loud,forceful and project her voice.

Women tend to become nasal and use a higher register and thus sound shriller. Palin and Hillary are both guilty of this and tend to have voices when at higher volume grate...painfully on the ear.


I remember an article a few months ago where Steven Spielberg was offering Hillary lessons on voice and camera work. She didn't like the criticism and skipped out.

Some people say she does her homework on the details of her favorite issues. I have no way of knowing that. But as a candidate, she's lazy, entitled, and stage managed. Arrogant, rich candidates with more money than skill run for office all the time. They just usually top out with a Senate run.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ha ha. What does Spielberg know about appearing in front of a camera anyway! What a jerk of a man!

That's our Hillary again. Proving her mettle, spittle and how inferior to her everyone is, and in every way.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It's almost like she's trying to prove a point and win one for all wimminhood by proving how obnoxiously you can be to still "win". So that the next day she can go, "I told you so!"

And then will begin 1459 days of pain, trauma, drama and more mediocrity than you can imagine. Another Mid-East war, another financial disaster and/or bail-out. Graft, payola, excess. But lots of gowns and glitter. It will be Fellini-esque. A carnival of wide-eyed enthusiastic nods as all of Washington's best turn out to pay homage to the woman no one likes. A lot of cake, too. Maybe a tiara. If women have an equivalent to a Playboy Bunny Ranch, it will be something like this. An orgy of self-congratulatory gender warrior-ism. Tough words for "mean men" doing the wrong thing all over the globe, and a willingness to send men into harm's way anywhere. And at any price. Bankrupting the defense budget will become de rigueur (she's got to prove herself "tougher" than those Republicans somehow!) and financial messes as far as the eye can see. But she will get her rewards so who cares? As long as she basks in the glory of the "first to home plate" prize and stays rich, the need to be influential will go away.

We can look forward to a couple dozen speeches about how Congress and the people are ignoring whatever insane or poorly thought out policy she proposed because the evil specter of sexism lurks behind every corner, and within every shadow. Assad will be called out for bombing ISIS because of sexism.

When a deficit appears and the debt grows, it will be because of sexism.

When her term ends, it will be because of sexism.

She will install a podium at the foot of the bed in the White House master bedroom (or in the master bathroom), and practice gesticulating behind it. Never really saying anything, because words don't matter.

But there will be plenty of gesticulating. And nodding.

And plenty of sexism.

Sexism everywhere! For all time! Until it is vanquished! (Which will be never, to her - but it's the only way to really keep the script going).

Fuck Hillary.

tim in vermont said...

Hillary or Sanders? I vote Sanders. In fact, I think I will vote in the Democrat primary, to help with that. Trump or Sanders? I vote Sanders.

B said...

Have a woman candidate wear a plain white blouse under a dark gray blazer and a dark gray straight mid-knee-length skirt — wear the same thing every day — and see if there is criticism or celebration. My bet is that people would love it.

Hell yes I would love it. Hillary wore a simple blouse and blazer last night. It was a huge improvement over those awful knee-length tunics she wears with the massive collars and garish colors.

Laura said...

Problem is that some women voters can understand turning the other cheek.

We can understand forgiving seventy times seven.

Participating in the lie is where we draw the line.

Kelly said...

Oh bull shit. It's free stuff, nothing more, nothing less

HoodlumDoodlum said...

FullMoon said...I am a Palin fan. Her voice is annoying after awhile. So is Hillary's.

I'm not much of a Palin fan. Her speaking voice is annoying after a very short while, to me. I'm as far from a Clinton fan as one can be. I find her "speech" voice quite grating after a very short while.

Neither of those opinions is sexist...but that's according to me. The Media, and the Left, disagree.

Limited blogger said...

"Clearly, he doesn't want to. He is pulling his punches. Why?"

It's like the Brazilian martial art - Capoeira.

But not beautiful.

Milwaukie guy said...

HoodlumDoodlum said...
Women: For God's Sake, Sort Yourselves Out!

This.

Bob Loblaw said...

I love this moment in politics. We really have a golden opportunity here to throw out the bums in each party and the dunderheaded political fads of each side. If it goes to waste I will not be happy.

I feel the same way, but sadly we're most likely to be faced with a Clinton/Rubio matchup in November. The power structure won't change one damn bit.

Bruce Hayden said...

"A woman may have a decent even calming speaking voice in her normal register it changes when she wants to get loud, forceful and project her voice."

I don't think that many women understand how much a high shrieky voice turns off men, and, I think that the older we get, the worse our hearing gets, the worse high shrill voices bother us. I am so thankful that my partner has a fairly low voice for a woman. I am just curious as to the evolutionary value of high shrieky voices in women. I would have thought that such would have ended up with such women being terminated with extreme prejudice in less feminist times.

tim in vermont said...

In Grinnell Ward 1, the precinct where elite liberal arts college Grinnell College is located, 19 delegates were awarded to Bernie Sanders and seven were awarded to Hillary Clinton on caucus night. However, the Iowa Democratic party decided to shift one delegate from Sanders to Clinton on the night and did not notify precinct secretary...

:^O I am shocked! Shocked!

MaxedOutMama said...

Sigh.

This is just - sad. Are we elevating narcissism to an art form? So now all those young females who look at Hillary as a person first are anti-feminists?

Women who are concerned about her ethics are really just pathetically in love with Bernie's fuzzy hair, as we are all helpless moppets seeking a wrinkled male kitten to hug to our unraised consciousnesses?



Rusty said...

I think Bernie appeals to that portion of our population who skipped economics class to burn a joint in the washroom.

Big Mike said...

Bottom line. If Hillary Clinton is the best that liberal, female Democrats can do then They. Have. NOTHING.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Dang. I was thinking "Bella Abzug," Ann, before I scrolled down and saw that you'd beaten me there. Didn't even have to get in to the comments!

Betty Friedan would also make the point, though she wasn't a politician exactly.

damikesc said...

Don't get the "sexist double standard" since it won't be dudes doing the bitching.

Bilwick said...

Meanwhile:

http://www.imao.us/index.php/2016/01/the-illustrated-frank-j-finally-figured-out-populist/

Kirk Parker said...

tds,

"Donald gets 100x more s**t for his hair than any female politician"

I suppose he does, but then he trumps them in the ZFG category, so it's all good.

(For the urban-acronym-disabled, try http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=zfg When I tested it the best link was the second one, but YMMV.)

Kirk Parker said...

Paddy O. @ 3:02pm,

Forget voting, get thyself to The Range. Yes it's horribly sad, especially for a younger chap like you--especially a Christian one--but brute force is increasingly how things will get decided in Our Republic, and it's not long before that force is not longer figurative.

"(I've been reading a lot of Niklas Luhmann of late)"

I suggest you replace him, for the time being, with Jeff Cooper.

Kirk Parker said...

OMG.

I find myself agreeing with R & B.

Clearly it's time to stop drinking and reading blog comments, and go to bed.

Kirk Parker said...

Bruce,

"I would have thought that such would have ended up with such women being terminated with extreme prejudice in less feminist times."

Yeah, do you have the slightest evidence they weren't? The only argument I can think of is that this vocal aspect hasn't died out... but for the life of me I can't figure out why.

Tennjenny said...

ha! I just took your profile pic to my hairdresser last Thursday. I want it like this, I said. She said I just needed to muss it up more, with extra product to help it stay that way.

Brad said...

Geez .....

The Hillary!!! as victim schtick is getting so old - at least, it is for many of us. We'll see if it works - Heaven knows there are a lot of people invested in making it work because "We must have a woman President!!!" ugh.

A big part of Sanders' appeal is he isn't "Hillary!" - how hard is that to comprehend?

OK, here's the hard part ... the things that make "Hillary!" 'unattractive" have nothing to do with her being a woman.

She's as corrupt as the day is long; she seeks power, not "public service." Enough people in the Democrat party see it that they're looking for someone, anyone to support other than her.

Sanders is their choice because he's at least had the will to take on the Clinton machine.

Don M said...

Seems like the complaint is that Hillary is having trouble finding the right lies to tell us, but Bernie's lies come easier.

Rich Rostrom said...

In Take Back Your Government! (his how-to-do-politics book), Robert A. Heinlein wrote

"In fact, one of the best candidates I have ever known was female, past seventy, ugly as an old horse, no children, a poor public speaker, and not very well known. What she had was integrity that surrounded her as an almost visible aura and an evident selflessness."

The differences between RAH's exemplar and Mrs. Clinton are clearly not in appearance. Incidentally, that woman was almost certainly a Democrat; when RAH wrote that book in 1946, he had been a very active California Democrat for twelve years.

Ann Althouse said...

Jenny said "ha! I just took your profile pic to my hairdresser last Thursday. I want it like this, I said. She said I just needed to muss it up more, with extra product to help it stay that way."

Thanks for the confirmation!

My hairdresser has been advising me to mess up my hair for many years. It's presented as crucial, important advice.