February 16, 2016

"Oh? I have to watch a 30-second commercial to hear Hillary Clinton bark like a dog? Is this how we live now?"

Exclamation out loud by me, just now, after clicking here, via Stephen Green.

Upon enduring the commercial and watching the clip, hearing the "arf, arf, arf," my spontaneous exclamation was: "Oh, she's working on her presentation. Don't be mean to her."

Now, before you jump on me with "Who's being mean?" and the analysis of my excessive, absurd emotion, remember, I didn't have to share that with you. And I wrote the previous sentence and had the insights I'm ascribing to you. I wanted to show that unfiltered reaction to you so you can think ahead and predict how mocking her might play out. Don't make me feel protective of her! I was already predisposed to think she'd need protection. I've got my cool, distanced view of all this, but my spontaneous, emotive reaction is something upon which you should coolly reflect. 

58 comments:

rhhardin said...

Hillary needs some speech from King Lear.

Wince said...

Thirty seconds is ridiculous, even compared to 15 seconds, for a brief clip.

Worse, is YouTube/Google. They hide the ad until after you link.

There should be disclosure upfront. Evil.

Ann Althouse said...

"Worse, is YouTube/Google. They hide the ad until after you link."

I know! This is a problem. I often decide whether or not to embed based on whether there's an ad.

Drago said...

Is that a barking sound or the sound of sniper fire?

Or, given Hillary's wishes (for a dog to bark when someone lies), is it both?

tim in vermont said...

I have to say that the viscous attacks on Trump make me more disposed to consider him. Especially when they are entirely unfair. My mother became a US citizen when she went home and was offended when her friends and family were mocking the US. She said "I guess I am an American now" and became one.

Rob said...

All right, I'll go to Hell: she sounds like a little bitch.

tim in vermont said...

Vicious, not viscous. Although Cruz can be a bit oleaginous.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Hillary's problem is that she's already received too much protection.

Chris N said...

You're making sure someone gets paid when you watch a 15 second ad over a borrowed 1 second bit of content over a page with plug-ins and 10-second load times

Make sure it's CNN!

traditionalguy said...

The smell of empathy for Hillary and Bill this early in the morning. What a Blog.

tim in vermont said...

my spontaneous exclamation was: "Oh, she's working on her presentation. Don't be mean to her."

Let's add some context:

"I want to figure out how we can do that with Republicans. We need to get that dog and follow them around and every time they say these things like, 'Oh, the Great Recession was caused by too much regulation,' arh, arh, arh, arh," Clinton said, letting out a barking noise that caused the audience to laugh and some people to mimic her.


"I think," Clinton concluded, "we could cut right through a lot of their claims."


She is calling on her followers to avoid engaging their opponents in any kind of rational discussion, but instead to just shout them down. It is 100% fair to mock her on it, since she is proposing "barking" as a political weapon.

tim in vermont said...

Full context:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/15/politics/hillary-clinton-barks-like-a-dog-gop/index.html

Wince said...

Does Hillary really want to make the sound of a dog bark the signal for somebody who's lying?

She's the front runner and she will have a tough time pinning it any one Republican challenger.

Meanwhile, Republicans and Sanders people can use it on her.

It's Hillary who "Let the dogs out". One more misstep?

Chris N said...

Fuckin' right I want to see Hillary bark like a dog after I consider a 2016 Kia Sportage!

Got to make sure there's premium cheese-plates around when the execs show-up!

Will Trump taze a Mexican on air, and then EXPLODE?

What kind of FRESH HORSESHIT is Debbie Wasserman Schulz shovelin' over at the SPIN-ZONE?

16GB baby!

SayAahh said...

Dog barking...must be a pussy in the room.

Laslo Spatula said...

Althouse Haiku:

absurd emotion
I've got my cool distanced view
you cooly reflect

I am Laslo.

Chris N said...

See you after the next semi-crisis and we really have to worry about these clowns!

amielalune said...

It's mind boggling to think that ANYONE -- let alone the professor who appears to be a mostly rational individual -- would in any way feel "protective" of that screaming harpy. Really, really unbelievable.

Hagar said...

Was this the the clip you meant to link to?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/15/politics/hillary-clinton-barks-like-a-dog-gop/index.html

Laslo Spatula said...

Althouse Haiku:

After clicking here
Enduring the commercial
Don't be mean to her

I am Laslo.

Drago said...

Hillary is strong. Very strong. Like all women.

Which is why she must be protected at all times from all quarters for all reasons.

'cuz "Strength!!"

rehajm said...

'Oh, the Great Recession was caused by too much regulation,' arh, arh, arh, arh,"

The 'Great Recession' was caused in no small part by too much regulation. What animal is there to warn us when the dog lies?

MacMacConnell said...

At least we now know what a Shar Pei sounds like when it barks.

tim in vermont said...

The difference between Bill and Hillary was that Bill was not an instinctive liberal. He wasn't a "Reject first, ask rhetorical questions later" liberal the way Hillary is. He gave the appearance at least, that he could be persuaded, so he was persuasive. Hillary will never ever ever have that kind of charm. Bush had it too. Obama doesn't. Obama is simply imperious and mystified why it doesn't work.

tim in vermont said...

At least we now know what a Shar Pei sounds like when it barks

These kinds of comments are why this blog needs a like button.

Laslo Spatula said...

Althouse Haiku:

Predisposed to think
Dog? Is this how we live now?
She'd need protection.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Regarding Althouse Haiku:

I could've gone with an extended scenario of Hillary barking like a dog, doggy-style, while Huma inserted a cucumber in her ass.

But I took the High Road.

You're welcome.

I am Laslo.

Jake said...

Her delivery in general needs work. The bark sounded pretty good though. I mean that. She does a good impression of a dog barking.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I wanted to show that unfiltered reaction to you so you can think ahead and predict how mocking her might play out.

Is there anyone in this country, other than that wee pie slice of white women of a certain age who have some kind of weird emotional attachment to Hillary, who would shy away from/be offended by mocking her?

tim maguire said...

If, after decades in the public eye, Hillary is still "working on her presentation," then that's one of the biggest damnings of her candidacy I've come across (the biggest non-felonious damning, anyway).

As for your weird "feel[ing] protective of her" comment, well, that's just weird. No, not "just weird," it's sexist too.

AllenS said...

Using Hillary's barking like a dog, could make great GOP ad material.

Oso Negro said...

Althouse Agonistes. Sigh. Dear Professor, you are such a jewel, but if you post a poll of your readership, those of us who have been around for any length of time have never doubted that you will go for Hillary.

rhhardin said...

Damsels in Distress (2011) is entertaining, speaking of Hillary and improving the world.

You get a great line every few minutes.

Curious George said...

"Jake said...
Her delivery in general needs work. The bark sounded pretty good though. I mean that. She does a good impression of a dog barking."

Just like Tiger Woods does a good impression of a golfer.

Bob Boyd said...

Somebody brought that famous, lie-detecting pooch to meet Hillary once and she didn't even have to open her mouth, the dog barked at her smell.

Hillary says she wishes the dog could follow Republicans around, but she knows that will never happen because she had the dog snatched from it's owner and shipped to Obama's relatives in Indonesia.

Meade said...

On the Internet, everybody knows Hillary's a dog.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

...but my spontaneous, emotive reaction is something upon which you should coolly reflect.

After cool reflection, I say we repeal the 19th amendment.

FleetUSA said...

Keyword: enduring

furious_a said...

My dogs bark every time they hear Hillary's voice on the TV.

furious_a said...

I AM WOMAN.
HEAR ME BARK.

Amadeus 48 said...

Everybody says and does stupid things in the course of our too-long presidential derby. Will this be Hillary's "macaca" moment? It may be her "chihuahua" moment. Let's get the Puparazzi on the case!

Big Mike said...

Don't make me feel protective of her!

How about if you don't feel protective of her? Is the job of President of the United States meant to be a set-aside for people who can't cope with the fallout from their own speeches?

Hillary Clinton is personally corrupt, there can be no doubt of that. The most direct consequences of her service as Secretary of State in the Obama administration are (1) probable exposure of some of the most sensitive information that the country has by circumventing security controls to place that information on an unsecured and easily hacked server; (2) an unstable Middle East featuring the rise of a terrorist organization (ISIS/ISIL) and a dead ambassador; and (3) an apparent return to the Cold War. You feel protective of her??? There a plenty of women who have better track records, and vastly better levels of integrity, and if you are that desperate to see a woman in the Oval Office perhaps you should recruit one or more of them. Kelly Ayotte, for starters, or Nikki Haley. Maybe Deb Stabenow if you're desperate for a Democrat (but for gosh sakes not Tammy Baldwin!).

Hillary Clinton abuses the "sisterhood" when she appeals to you for sympathy, particularly when she's asking for sympathy from a situation that begins with her own blunders. There are plenty of women who deserve your protective feelings; that we Republicans should not take opportunities to throw Hillary Clinton's own foolishness back at her lest we raise your protective feelings is a foolishness of its own.

Let me quote Lincoln to you, madam Professor. "What would you do in my position? Would you drop the war where it is? Or would you prosecute it in the future with elder-stalk squirts charged with rose water?"

Wince said...

"Come on, bark like a dog for me."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nGjHZjcVQqI

Martha said...

Who Let the Dogs Out—featuring Hillary Clinton —no commercial!


http://youtu.be/KgCP9vOUd1o

mezzrow said...

I've got my cool, distanced view of all this, but my spontaneous, emotive reaction is something upon which you should coolly reflect.

Homey don't play dat. Dis ain't cool, even though I am distanced.

It's likely much cooler than it is here in Madison today. (checks, nods)

JAORE said...

The Cruz ad about "It's good to be a Clinton" drew a lot of flak. In large part because it's funny. In larger part because it hit the target.

The barking ad virtually writes itself.
Scene 1: the barking = lying clip by Hillary
Scene two: Hillary quote on the Benghazi video ... bark.
Scene 3: Hillary on sniper fire:.... bark, bark.
Scene 4: Hillary of (fill in the blank- Server/Can't be bought/Poor when we left White House, ????). Bark, BARK! Woof. Yip. Yowl! Ah woooooooo!

Mix and match her lies as you see fit.

Skeptical Voter said...

Arf Arf--that's what Hillary does. She's an arfer.


I should share with you that my movie criticism method is rating bad movies by a system of arfs. If I can watch a movie trailer in the theatre and conclude I'd rather be waterboarded than watch that movie, it's rated as a "5 arfer". A mildly uninteresting movie might get a single "arf".

On my own personal scale, Hillary rates "6 arfs".

MathMom said...

I've already heard a mashup of "Who Let the Dogs Out" with Hillary barking at the end.

She has no situational awareness.

wildswan said...

The people who run campaigns sometimes seem to be playing a form of tennis with their counterparts on other campaigns. Anything they can slam over the net without a return is a "victory." Rubio "lost" because Christie made a good point about boilerplate in speeches. Hillary is barking like a dog - circulate it, she looks like an idiot. BLM embarrassed Sanders - circulate it, suggest he opposes civil rights. Perhaps advertising principles are right when they say this sort of thing, endless negativity, works. But also perhaps people begin to perceive when they are being worked on and to resist it.

For example, look at the surprising success of anti-establishment people this year. This success just amounts to people disregarding enormous negative propaganda or in fact converting that negative drumbeat into positive sounds. Various stories convert in the mind into: "The establishment hates him, hates him, another establishment smear, another proof they hate him, hate him." And the mind also says: the establishment are doing nothing to fix the economy, nothing to fight ISIS, nothing about Putin, nothing about debt, the migrants who are raping are great guys; but the establishment have time to do something and something ugly at that about their political opponents and so more stories from the establishment: "hate him, hate him, hate him" - and it all emerges (to the surprise of conventional campaign wisdom) as: GO DONALD SANDERS.

averagejoe said...

A dog that barks when a politician lies? And Hillary thinks republicans need it? Talk about the dog that didn't bark, and hasn't since the Nixon administration...

Bay Area Guy said...

Bill Murray in Caddyshack - "Bark like a dog!"

"Oh, man in the boat overboard. You beast, you savage. C'mon bark like a dog for me. Bark like a dog, I will teach you the meaning of the word respect."

Hmmm. Sounds a bit like Laslo......

jg said...

It's true that Hillary benefitted in her NY senate run from her debate opponent appearing mean and dominating while she looked hurt and frail.

Except for wanting to avoid inadvertently helping her (is Althouse going to vote Hillary?) why should we care if some protective instincts flare? It's just a question of whether the net effect is to gain or lose her votes.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

There's probably some polling that says it's better for a candidate to bark like a bitch than to whine like a pussy.

Leigh said...

Everyone is always waiting for a candidate's fatal Howard Dean scream. I wonder if this was it, or was it just some argle-bargle?

Kate said...

Two thoughts:

1- Hillary is not a natural raconteur. I felt nervous for her (like I would for any underdog) and wanted the audience to laugh at her joke. The whole thing was uncomfortable.

2- I haven't seen Hillary outside of still photos in a while. Her posture and mannerisms have become those of an old lady. This is a woman trying to be someone/thing she isn't. As a fellow aging woman, my heart goes out to her. Meanwhile, my eyes can barely stand to watch.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Hillary Clinton is a great actress. I am not surprised she can make dog sounds. She probably liked doing that.

Gusty Winds said...

I can't wait until Trump has the opportunity to imitate Hillary! barking like a dog.

No matter how hard she tries she's just not funny.

tim in vermont said...

Not only does she do a great barking dog, but her impression of Al Sharpton is spot on too!

http://www.weeklystandard.com/hillary-mimics-sharpton-my-lips-are-sealed/article/2001109

She probably liked doing that.

Training her followers to shout down people who disagreed with her rather than engaging in discussion? Sure. Like her position on Citizen's United, and her comment that the trouble with the internet is that there are no gatekeepers, she thinks that power is about shutting people she doesn't like up. She is a classic liberal in that regard, short on logic, long on volume.