Althouse: Should I get the Hillary Clinton book and search for bloggable nuggets?

September 13, 2017

Should I get the Hillary Clinton book and search for bloggable nuggets?

70 comments:

Derek Kite said...: Black holes consume enough without encouraging them.; 9/13/17, 9:12 AM
Nonapod said...: Please read it and extract interesting stuff so I don't have to. I don't like reading stuff written by self deluded weirdos. As much as I dislike the term "cringeworthy", I can think of no other word to describe my feelings about anything Hillary Clinton says.; 9/13/17, 9:16 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: I suspect that reading this book would be very frustrating, possibly even anger inducing. If you can handle reading a book that is probably filled with facts, statements and conclusions that just aren't so it could be interesting though. For what it's worth the most interesting thing I've seen from the book so far is Hillary's odd take on 1984. It makes me feel like there are two sides, maybe more, who are fighting for control of reality.; 9/13/17, 9:17 AM
Bob Boyd said...: The more people saw of Hillary during the campaign, the worse it got for her.
The more people see of her now, the worse it will be for the Progs in general.
Let Ann's cruel neutrality help Hillary be Hillary.; 9/13/17, 9:20 AM
AlbertAnonymous said...: I wanted to choose both of the last two answers. Then I thought, you need an answer that says "No need, it's all garbage, absolute garbage... and Bullshit!"; 9/13/17, 9:21 AM
Original Mike said...: Ignoring Hillary is like ignoring the warning signs of cancer. Not a good idea, people.; 9/13/17, 9:24 AM
DKWalser said...: I'm in the "only if you want to" camp. (It's kinda lonely here.) I think you'd do a great job and I'd enjoy your take, but I think it's an awful lot to ask of you or anyone. If you'd enjoy doing it for its own sake, then go for it! I'm sure many of us would enjoy reading your insights. On the other hand, it sounds to me like that kind of drudgery that might kill your desire to blog. I don't want to guilt you into such a task. I'd much rather you continue blogging about what you find intrinsically rewarding.; 9/13/17, 9:30 AM
Wince said...: Wait until it reaches the "Bargain Bin" at Ocean State Job Lot, where all bad books go to die.; 9/13/17, 9:30 AM
Hagar said...: Dumpster diving and not worth your time.; 9/13/17, 9:33 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Up to you. I would suggest you find a way to acquire it without paying for it. Library check out if possible. Don't buy it and help with her money-grubbing.

BTW - why don't we hear about the Clintons digging deep to help victims of hurricanes?; 9/13/17, 9:40 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: Nope. That's one dumpster fire that needs to be starved of oxygen.

Your neutrality may be cruel, but you are not.; 9/13/17, 9:41 AM
mccullough said...: Go for it. What interests you probably will be something not talked about by the media.; 9/13/17, 9:41 AM
Kevin said...: I think you do incredulity particularly well.

While the NYT and WAPO could easily use up every ounce of your talent, I guess I'd just say, to paraphrase an ex-president, that at a certain point they've received enough.; 9/13/17, 9:42 AM
Darrell said...: Hillary's blamethrower will eventually reach everyone.; 9/13/17, 9:45 AM
Wince said...: What somebody should do is make one of those "sound boards" from the Books on Tape version using Hillary's own irritating caterwauling.

Like this, only better.; 9/13/17, 9:46 AM
Kevin said...: For the good of the country, and because she still hasn't learned a thing after two failed attempts at the presidency, I think we all owe it to her to encourage her to run again.

The Democrats coronated her before she'd won a single primary vote last time, and I think the penance for that should at least be having her muck up the primaries and suck up all the oxygen on the left in 2020.

Otherwise we're just going to get a repackaged Hillary in the form of Kamala Harris exhorting women to vote with their vaginas and men to check the name next to her "for their daughters".; 9/13/17, 9:49 AM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, I was torn between answers two, three, and five. FWIW I think you have better uses for your time, like ironing sheets.; 9/13/17, 9:50 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I agree. Run HIllary run!; 9/13/17, 9:51 AM
Curious George said...: Sure. And add the new tag "That bitch be cray cray."; 9/13/17, 9:51 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Hillary/Pelosi 2020; 9/13/17, 9:52 AM
Owen said...: It would be a great public service on your part. A weekly column where you dissect a chapter or some key passage, not necessarily always negative (maybe, by accident, some valuable insight or admission would surface amidst the self-pitying drivel we know so well). Done systematically, this "annotated Hillary" would become a landmark on its own, helping to explain our political culture by examining one of its most remarkable pathogens.; 9/13/17, 9:55 AM
Wince said...: Blamethrower

And she's the only reason
I know I've got a soul

She's a blame, blamethrower
She's a blamethrower at night
She's a blame, a red-hot blower
She's a blamethrower at night; 9/13/17, 9:56 AM
Bill Peschel said...: You certainly deal with side issues, stuff out of the corner of your eye, so I can see you contributing something others wouldn't. But its presumptuous to say you "should" get the book, even if you asked. It's your blog, and I'll read what you write.; 9/13/17, 10:05 AM
The Godfather said...: Have you considered Gatsby-ing "What Happened"?; 9/13/17, 10:14 AM
Chris N said...: As an occasional commenter, I command you to perform your highest moral duty as a watcher of politics.

Parse every sentence. Savor every syllable. Become the pantsuit.

Nah, do what you want, Althouse.; 9/13/17, 10:18 AM
William said...: I voted for the only if you want option, but it's difficult for me to imagine anyone actually wanting to read the book, at least in its entirety. I suppose some of her supporters would want to buy the book to show their support, but do even they want to read the book......This is a book meant to be read only in excerpts. In any event, she'll pick up another few million for it, and perhaps she can write another book about how unfair the reviews were and about all the wonderful people she met on her book tour.; 9/13/17, 10:23 AM
Kathryn51 said...: Like DKWalser, I voted for "Only if you feel like it, but blogging other things is just as good for me."

Actually, "blogging other things" is NOT just as good for me. I hope you buy the book so that you get a sense of who IS Hillary Clinton and that the book may be a resource for you in future blog posts. To me, She is a crook and charlatan that craves power. There were only a couple of handfuls of women in my law school class, but too many of them were there because they wanted to "change the world" - and not in a good way.; 9/13/17, 10:24 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Please read it and extract interesting stuff so I don't have to."

There's no way I'll actually read it. I'm not even suggesting that could happen. I'm only saying I might search it for bloggable nuggets.; 9/13/17, 10:36 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I'm all for full Hillary burn out.; 9/13/17, 10:49 AM
Earnest Prole said...: Please make Hillary go away.; 9/13/17, 11:17 AM
The Godfather said...: @Kathryn51: Are "handfuls of women" like Romney's "binders full of women"?; 9/13/17, 11:18 AM
damikesc said...: You should steal it and then blog. It fits her entire modus operandi.; 9/13/17, 11:45 AM
Matt Sablan said...: That matters, are you one of the experts, leaders and the press that we should trust?

How many lights are there?; 9/13/17, 12:08 PM
StephenFearby said...: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." (By Mid American deplorables.)

Now channeling Queen Lear.; 9/13/17, 12:09 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Professor - if someone obtained a copy of the book (in ebook format of course) and sent it to you, would you accept and read it if you strongly suspected that the ebook was obtained without paying the publisher and author?

Totally hypothetical question, of course.; 9/13/17, 12:46 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: You've already blogged a few nuggets. And if you'd walked into a bookstore and opened the book to the random page I did yesterday, you'd blog that too. Why deny yourself the hate read you know you want to do?; 9/13/17, 1:00 PM
Jason said...: This lady is on it!

https://twitter.com/katereadsbks/status/907630099519881219; 9/13/17, 1:55 PM
Ken B said...: No. Buy a copy, send it to Chuck.; 9/13/17, 2:07 PM
Sydney said...: Don't put yourself through the misery of reading it. I read the katereadsbooks twitter feed of excerpts and the writing is incredibly horrible. It reminds me of some sort of genre writing but I can't put my finger on what the genre is. I do know it reminds me of a lot of vapid conversations I had to sit through while waiting for my kids at music lessons and sport practices. It is hard to believe that someone with her education and life experience hasn't been exposed to enough serious writing to have it reflected at least a little bit in her own nonfiction writing.; 9/13/17, 2:09 PM
Pianoman said...: How about this -- when you come across a particularly juicy passage, bring it up to Meade, and then blog the back-and-forth between the two of you.

Sort of like you guys having your own little Bloggingheads thing.

It's more interesting than seeing what changes Meade has made to your lawn. Just sayin'.; 9/13/17, 2:41 PM
Quaestor said...: Whatever you do don't buy the audiobook. It's read by the author herself. Drivel read aloud by a screeching harpy, that's the Muzak™ they pipe into Hell's down-only express elevators.; 9/13/17, 2:43 PM
Tank said...: Ann Althouse said...

"Please read it and extract interesting stuff so I don't have to."

There's no way I'll actually read it...."

This made me laugh twice.

Tank's view: If Althouse chooses to write about a couple of sections, it will be interesting in some way.; 9/13/17, 2:59 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I took option 1, but you will do it in far more interesting ways than any blogger on the right or left will do- part of why this site is near the top of my bookmarks.; 9/13/17, 3:18 PM
Rusty said...: Wait for the movie.; 9/13/17, 3:27 PM
Quaestor said...: You should steal it and then blog. It fits her entire modus operandi.

There's a Henny Youngman routine in there dying to get out.; 9/13/17, 3:36 PM
Jaq said...: I voted that it was your duty as a blogger, but I did it ironically. Let her rot pickled in "chardonnay." I am thinking she has one of those boxes with a tap in her fridge. A "mommy juice box."; 9/13/17, 3:45 PM
Jaq said...: Search on terms like "rage","fury","sick","disbelief","bitter",hurt","resentment","sobbing","tears","losing","distraught","depressed","anger","defeat". I am betting that those search terms would turn up some comedy gold. Just for fun, "Broaddrick","Jones","Flowers"

Of course "Wisconsin","Michigan",Pennsylvania","

I love how she keeps saying that the last thing she wants to do is exactly what she is doing, like being a distraction from the Democrats attempts to move forward and deal with their divisions. Or that she would never send someone else out to speak for her like she had to for Bill when he lost the governorship.

I can't believe how happy I am that she lost. Than you The Donald.; 9/13/17, 4:04 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Like most sane, normal, red-blooded American males, I am sick to death of that power-mad, devious, sore loser, Hillary - who by the way happens to be a female.

Frankly, she sucks.

But.

The more she demands airtime and the spot light and shoulders to cry on, the worse it is for the Democrat Party, the better it is for the country.

So, yes, sigh, we need more Hillary, in the same way the Harlem Globetrotters need the Washington Generals.; 9/13/17, 4:10 PM
mockturtle said...: LBJ was contemptible but interesting. Hillary is just contemptible. Please spare us.; 9/13/17, 4:25 PM
Mark said...: Should I buy this book and go rummaging around for tidbits?

Should you -- or anyone -- give her a single dime? No.

Besides, you can get the comedy for free, as in this example.; 9/13/17, 4:28 PM
Jaq said...: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/02/the-many-things-hillary-clinton-couldnt-recall-in-her-fbi-interview/?utm_term=.1b23e4af76b6

She remembers everything now though!!!; 9/13/17, 5:36 PM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, I respectfelly challenge your use of the "Hillary goes away" tag. I don't think she's planning to go away at all.; 9/13/17, 6:20 PM
rcocean said...: "Whatever you do don't buy the audiobook."

Right on. One drawback of audiobooks is you can't really skim. Hillary's book isn't meant to be read, its meant to be skimmed. It'll be 20% interesting, 80% bilge and filler.; 9/13/17, 6:31 PM
rcocean said...: I must say Hillary is one person I love to kick when she's down.

I'd look forward to some trenchant analysis by Althouse; 9/13/17, 6:32 PM
Robert said...: Buy the book. Read it or not. It doesn't matter. Take it with you when you go to a coffee shop and if you sit at a table that is wobbly then rip out a few pages and put them under a table leg.; 9/13/17, 7:07 PM
Fabi said...: You can purchase it through the Althouse Amazon Portal.; 9/13/17, 7:16 PM
Narayanan said...: Hillary Goes away Gaga?! Fify.; 9/13/17, 7:29 PM
gnome said...: There you go. Fully 48% of your readers are Democrat voters.; 9/13/17, 7:33 PM
walter said...: Maybe "droppings" would be more apt.; 9/13/17, 7:38 PM
Zach said...: Judging by the excerpts I've seen, it's not worth bothering with. Everything I've seen has that robotic, uncanny evenness of tone that suggests heavy ghostwriting.; 9/13/17, 10:35 PM
Big Mike said...: I just read Piers Morgan's review of the book. The man has quite a command of invective. You're a talented blogger, Althouse, but I'm not sure there's much you can add.; 9/14/17, 5:24 AM
Vince said...: It's your blog; do as you please.; 9/14/17, 6:57 AM
cubanbob said...: Go on and do it. You know you do. Keep your hubby around while you read so you can exclaim OMG to him after every other page.; 9/14/17, 6:57 AM
RMc said...: This is obviously one of the greatest books of all time: as of now, a whopping 95% of online reviewers gave it five stars!

What do you mean, Amazon pulled all the one-star reviews? https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/14/amazon-redacts-one-star-reviews-of-hillary-clintons-what-happened; 9/14/17, 7:03 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Actual title on Hillary's book

Memoir of a Sociopath; 9/14/17, 7:28 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Piers Morgan cracks the code, again. yeah I know - it's all been done a million times now

"Hillary ran a diabolically elitist and blinkered campaign that basically boiled down to this mantra: 'Trump's disgusting, his supporters are a basket of deplorable idiots, I'm a brilliant woman, my husband used to be President, and I have lots of rich, famous friends – so vote for me.' "; 9/14/17, 7:30 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Hillary - Authoritarian deluxe

"...Donald Trump is too disorganized and too short of attention span (and his administration is too dysfunctional) to be an effective authoritarian. Trump could inspire and rally millions of previously disengaged people with his bombastic populism, but he cannot make the trains run on time.

Also, Trump has simply proven incapable of expanding his base of support. His approval ratings have consistently been far below the 46 percent he garnered on Election Day. Of all the foundations on which to build an autocracy, one of the least likely is a close second-place finish in the popular vote based largely on, "He's terrible, but at least he's not Hillary."

Hillary, meanwhile, had proven very adept at her efforts to amass power. She successfully made herself a multimillionaire by trading on government connections. She acquired the resumé for a presidential run, remarkably without ever attaching herself to any vision or principles. She successfully evaded federal transparency laws for years, managing to run the State Department outside the prying eye of federal authorities and FOIA requesters alike. And she had layers and layers of seasoned supporters backing her—believing her justified—in her disdain for and evasion of transparency.

In fact, the Washington Post and others have scolded journalists who asked too many questions about her evasion of public records laws. "; 9/14/17, 7:58 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: "Recall that Clinton literally campaigned on amending the Constitution to curb the First Amendment when it comes to criticizing politicians, and on suspending gun rights without due process. These are both matters where 90 percent of the news media agrees with her."; 9/14/17, 8:01 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: "Google, the academy, the news media, all celebrities, Apple, K Street, the courts, the bureaucracy, and the legal establishment would be rallying behind her destruction of the Bill of Rights. But with Trump as president, all of those institutions, for better and for worse, are today part of the #resistance."; 9/14/17, 8:03 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Lets not forget that Citizens United was about Hillary stopping anyone from criticizing her before and election.

despite what the liars on the left have twisted it into.; 9/14/17, 8:42 AM