Althouse: "When you have to deal with examination, cross-examination, et cetera, et cetera, more than two sides to every story, sometimes it’s four or five."

May 16, 2017

"When you have to deal with examination, cross-examination, et cetera, et cetera, more than two sides to every story, sometimes it’s four or five."

"And what people want to say and want you to say and how they maneuver, and, yes, I do have lawyers protect me — objection; sustained. But I just don’t want to sit there and have to figure out what I believe is a truthful answer to whether or not I’m opening a can of something that my lawyers are scrambling.... If a jury says so forth and so on, there’s still public opinion. And if the jury comes for the other side of the so forth and so on, it’s still public opinion. So I think it’s something that you never will be able to satisfy all minds and all behaviors. I know the side that I’m on and the side that I’m hoping for."

Said Bill Cosby.

27 comments:

bleh said...: Bill Cosby's command of the English language is really bad. How did he ever write a dissertation? Maybe he got worse as he got older.; 5/16/17, 8:39 PM
The Godfather said...: It's very sad. It's sad if the accusations are true. It's sad if the accusations are false. It's very sad.; 5/16/17, 8:48 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I think it's that he's just lived with this immense problem for a long time and is tired and numb. He knows he did a lot of bad things but probably kind of thinks they're not all that bad, are they, so he lamely lapses into saying things one way and then the other and then so forth and so on. He's probably floating along knowing his life is almost entirely behind him and the people will remember him with some shred of warmth and pity him in the end.; 5/16/17, 8:48 PM
mandrewa said...: That's a great comment, Ann.; 5/16/17, 9:01 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: I don't know, as it seemed clear enough to me. He's talking about the pitfalls of the courtroom, his desire not to have to dance around them, and how it all might affect a public life. Wish he had said more about Buck-Buck, though.; 5/16/17, 9:05 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Obfuscation and evasion by someone who knows the truth will hurt him.; 5/16/17, 9:05 PM
Etienne said...: Three words: transfer, of, wealth

The peasants can use the courts today, where sweat equity was required even 20 years ago.

I think everyone knows by now, that lawyers get the wealth, and the peasants are there for the gifts.; 5/16/17, 9:08 PM
Jupiter said...: Ann Althouse said...
"He knows he did a lot of bad things but probably kind of thinks they're not all that bad, are they, ..."

It's not like he picked up a ballerina and waved her around or something.; 5/16/17, 9:11 PM
gspencer said...: Maybe he ought to have offered them Jello instead of Quaaludes.

Yeah, that's it. Bill, had you stuck with Jello, and just Jello, you'd be okay today instead of spending your final years in courtrooms.; 5/16/17, 9:18 PM
Darrell said...: He got off on rape.
You's think that he and Bill Clinton would hang together more.; 5/16/17, 9:19 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: So faggotry, BDSM, consensual cannibalism, AOK! A kink to make it with a sleeping chick? To The Gallows!; 5/16/17, 9:41 PM
Dan in Philly said...: I listened to so many Cosby records as a child. I just dont want to think of his real self. So sad...; 5/16/17, 9:48 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Do men, especially rich, successful men, sometimes have sex with women who aren't their wives? Do people ever use recreational drugs, and use them during sex, possibly to enhance the sexual experience? Are women people? Asking for a friend.

Cosby is being punished for his immense popularity with white America, and for his justified criticism of Black America. Hannibal Buress SAID those were the reasons he accused Cosby of rape, with no personal knowledge of the man or his alleged crimes, but he must be believed because intersectionality -- “Bill Cosby has the fuckin’ smuggest old black man public persona that I hate,” Buress said. “He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the 80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!’ Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches.”

Buress even claims he never accused Cosby of rape, but you can see from that quote that that is a lie.; 5/16/17, 9:51 PM
mockturtle said...: My question is: Why did these women wait so long to bring charges?; 5/16/17, 9:52 PM
Darrell said...: The first stories that accused Cosby of rape appeared in the tabloids, circa 1970s, if I recall. Those featured rape/rape. I remember the one where the girl was a small, skinny thing and she talked about getting out of his grip where he was holding her two hands with his one. She said she relaxed and stopped pulling and when he relaxed, she got free in one quick move. She said she learned that fighting with her brothers growing up. As with most of the later women, she said sex was on the table with him. He was paying her bills and she knew she had to be nice eventually. What she didn't want was to be raped. She scratched his face when she got free and I think he might have talked to a lawyer after that and got some advice about switching to drugs. The scratches would back up her story with police.; 5/16/17, 9:53 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Well, George Lewis told the Englishman, the Italian and the Jew
"You can't open your mind, boys, to every conceivable point of view"; 5/16/17, 9:58 PM
Darrell said...: Why did these women wait so long to bring charges?

Most said, believably, that they didn't want to be responsible for bringing down the most beloved Black man in Hollywood and/or America for that matter. And since most of them were in the business in some capacity, doing so would put them on every shit list in ahow business. At one time he meant something like a $1 Billion to NBC.; 5/16/17, 10:17 PM
mccullough said...: The mutterings of an old man; 5/16/17, 10:33 PM
madAsHell said...: I think it's that he's just lived with this immense problem for a long time and is tired and numb.

The threnody of external genitalia.; 5/16/17, 11:00 PM
Etienne said...: mockturtle said...My question is: Why did these women wait so long to bring charges?

When the economy collapsed, a lot of people started looking for alternative ways to build wealth.

As middle class died out, many were left as peasants, and unwilling to accept the new America.

Lawyers are useful in the art of redistributing wealth. If you are broke, hire a lawyer. They will sometimes work for as low as 75% take in the jury award.; 5/16/17, 11:36 PM
Etienne said...: Bill, gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
He's tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',

But the ol' man's lawyer,
He jes'keeps rollin' along!; 5/16/17, 11:48 PM
wildswan said...: What I always wondered is why Cosby had to use drugs or why he had to rape. A famous, clever, amusing, successful man like that must have had lots of groupies or women who wanted to have sex with him. At least you would think so. And sometimes I wonder if the women who were accessible in that way bored him so much that he couldn't be bothered with talking to them. Just spike the drink and get it over with. And then it seems, yes, so awful and so sad, no matter what his reasons or compulsions and I just turn away from the spectacle. Like a lot of others I thought he was very funny.; 5/17/17, 12:00 AM
Njall said...: When I was a boy, I had the greatest respect for Bill Cosby - I'm not talking about his stupid 80's sitcom, I mean his childhood shtick and his cartoon show - I remember Flip Wilson from the late 60's, and Bill Cosby - his cartoon show in particular, I remember that resonating with me in the 70's, in Army bases, rubbing shoulders with so many pissed-off black kids.

It makes me so sad to see all of this. When my wife and I started to have children, I played his parenthood spiel for her, it was so beloved by me. It makes me so sad to see all this.; 5/17/17, 4:38 AM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: Bill Cosby's command of the English language is really bad.

Before I knew who it was, I thought it was pretty interesting.; 5/17/17, 6:02 AM
Daniel Jackson said...: I find it interesting that the other side of this story is not aired; or, perhaps it has been forgotten under the avalanche of MSM moral outrage and Salem Witch Trials mentality. Holding aside the volume of s/he said tabloid tales of sex in Hollywood (I'm shocked) for a moment, it is the timing of these events that need, certainly HERE, a bit of consideration.

Also there is the blatant double standard (if not racist in nature) between a former Democratic US President's sexual predatory style and a former Conservative Black philanthropist's similar sexual style. Each committed sexual assaults in their milieu: one in Hollywood where such behaviors are not unusual (the casting couch, etc) while the other under the watchful eyes of law enforcement officials. One is vilified, the other glorified.

In the early 2000's, Cosby began to speak publicly about how Black Culture was failing their youth by not supporting the importance of education in the American System. At a speech honoring the fiftieth anniversary of Brown vs The Board of Education, he spoke forcefully against the sacred cow of The Culture of Poverty meme that has enthralled politics for decades. The reaction against Cosby was immediate and equally forceful. I find it strange that during this time, the lawyers emerge.

Wikipedia says the following https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby:

"In May 2004, after receiving an award at the celebration of the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling—a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court that outlawed racial segregation in schools—Cosby made public remarks critical of African Americans who put higher priorities on sports, fashion, and "acting hard" than on education, self-respect, and self-improvement, pleading for African-American families to educate their children on the many different aspects of American culture.

"In the "Pound Cake" speech, Cosby asked that African-American parents teach their children better morals at a younger age. As reported in The Washington Times, Cosby "told reporters during a special session of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 34th annual legislative conference" that "Parenting needs to come to the forefront. If you need help and you don't know how to parent, we want to be able to reach out and touch you." Richard Leiby of The Washington Post reported, "Bill Cosby was anything but politically correct in his remarks Monday night at a Constitution Hall bash commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision."

"Cosby again came under sharp criticism and was again largely unapologetic for his stance when he made similar remarks during a speech at a July 1 meeting commemorating the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. During that speech, he admonished apathetic blacks for not assisting or concerning themselves with the individuals who are involved with crime or have counter-productive aspirations. He further described those who needed attention as blacks who "had forgotten the sacrifices of those in the Civil Rights Movement."

"In a 2008 interview, Cosby mentioned Atlanta; Chicago; Detroit; Oakland, California; Philadelphia; and Springfield, Massachusetts among the cities where crime was high and young African-American men were being murdered and jailed in disproportionate numbers. Cosby stood his ground against criticism and affirmed that African-American parents were continuing to fail to inculcate proper standards of moral behavior.”

While you can fix a leaky faucet like Seth Rich and cover it under the rug; similar methods will not do with a national persona like Bill Cosby. But, you can bury him in shit so his voice is drowned out.; 5/17/17, 7:55 AM
Michael K said...: " Like a lot of others I thought he was very funny."

He was and, like Daniel above, I think he is being punished for his deviation for the script written for all blacks when talking about the obvious problem with black families.

His Hollywood actions were no worse than most big time male stars and if you doubt that, read this book.

Just read about what the Obama DoE has done to schools. They have become jungles with violence ruling.; 5/17/17, 9:02 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: "Why did these women wait so long to bring charges?"

Maybe they were whores who who had sex, while voluntarily taking recreational drugs, with a wealthy, famous, powerful man, to get ahead in show biz. When that didn't work out, they went with plan B, or the plan that presented itself by circumstances (i.e., the moral outrage Daniel Jackson mentioned, occasioned by the very different mores of this century compared with the 1970s).; 5/17/17, 11:14 AM