So I don't think her alliance with him and failure to speak out about him had anything to do with protecting Democrats in the 2016 election, but I can't understand why her people wouldn't say: Don't connect yourself to that man, because there's a big scandal about him that's going to blow up one day, and you want to protect your credibility on women's issues.
Perhaps one could intern with him and somehow remain sublimely out of the loop, but the position would have had to have been extremely well vetted, and her advisers would have known that even if she had no direct experience with Weinstein's corrupt modus operandi that it could hurt her.
People (like me, right now) will say you knew but you said nothing; you took personal advantage to further your career and you did not use your position of great cultural influence to help the women who were victimized in a system you were part of.
Weinstein also raised money for President Barack Obama. In August 2011, Obama spoke at a $35,800 per guest dinner at Weinstein’s West Village home. In February 2012, Weinstein was one of several co-hosts for a $10,000 per plate fundraiser in New York City. Several months later, in August 2012, he hosted a $35,800 per head fundraiser at his home in Connecticut. In 2013, Obama was back at Weinstein’s house for another fundraiser, during which he praised Weinstein’s films. Malia Obama, Obama’s eldest daughter, interned for Weinstein this year. A spokesman for Obama declined to comment on the allegations.Forget spokesmen. I want to hear from Barack Obama and from Malia Obama.
Here's some more info (in Bustle) about Malia's internship:
Malia's job at The Weinstein Co. was reportedly fairly common entry level work that consisted of the teen reading through unsolicited scripts sent into the office. Sorting through the "slush pile," as the voluminous mass is called, is draining, often unrewarding work, but that didn’t stop Weinstein from promoting meeting the First Daughter as a potential perk when auctioning off another internship for over $15,000 in February 2017. As The Hollywood Reporter reports, a memo advertising the internship said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “learn all the ins and outs of the movie biz, and maybe even run into Malia Obama while you're at it."He sold her.
Posts
87 comments:
Malia, of course, did not know Weinstein was a sleeze and was also not brought up to speed on him by anyone. It is the way things work with the good girls who are hired for PR reasons and not for bedding. Malia probably never heard a hint of the boss' way with certain women.
And I seriously doubt if the Obamas knew. They were cool without being hip. LOL
To repeat an earlier comment. This story, brewing for years, is issued by NY Times during October of a no-election year. Pretty convenient timing (unlike, say, the hit/hack piece they did on McCain).
Here's another interesting story:
https://www.thecut.com/2017/10/why-the-weinstein-sexual-harassment-allegations-came-out-now.html
Weirdly, she plays the "Things were different back then" in 1999!
AA asks a good rhetorical question:
Q: "If Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment problem was an open secret, why did Malia Obama intern for him?"
Well, one doesn't normally answer good rhetorical questions, but I will, if you don't mind.
A: Because Harvey is a rich, loyal Democrat, and as a long as Malia was not the one being groped, berated, coaxed, or fondled, the Obamas didn't care.
What do I win?
Well, if you're asking the question why now, after all these decades, has this open secret suddenly become front page news perhaps the answer is that Weinstein tried the casting couch move on the wrong woman. Such as Malia Obama. Who told Dad.
A bit off topic, but I've never understood how the $35,800 per head fundraisers don't violate the rules on maximum personal contributions.
I mean I know WHY they don't violate the rules (because the benefit goes to people who wrote the rules) but how exactly did this loophole come into being? And if, as I strongly suspect, Democrat lawmakers benefit much more from this than do the GOP, why have they not sought to close the loophole?
The Obamas may be cool without being hip, but staff, hip or not, should still have kept an eye on Malia and warned them about Weinstein.
Also about Malia going to "concerts" and perhaps imbibing strange substances.
"If Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment problem was an open secret, why did Malia Obama intern for him?"
Because she was important. Important democrats don't have to deal with the issues poor democrats have to deal with. Everyone knows their place and they accept this.
Obama's entire mission in office was to create a permanent aristocracy and a permanent underclass. It is what progressives do.
Ted Kennedy killed a woman, had a history of sexual harassment, and was dealing the USSR behind Reagan's back. So, why did the Democrats make him Majority leader and the "Lion of the Senate"? Why was he McCain's "great friend"?
Why were the Dems OK with Bill "I want a Lewinsky" Clinton back in the Oval Office?
Despite all their grand principles, the Dems have a track record of not caring when in their pursuit of power and $$$.
Malia didn't need him, Ashley Judd, on the other hand, did.
OTOH, I don't think Obama thought Weinstein would be so brazen as to ask the President's relation to "watch him take a shower".
I doubt Malia was ever in a room with him alone. She would have had Secret Service protection with her.
Journalist/author Nina Burleigh on President Bill Clinton:
"I would be happy to give him a blowjob just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. I think American women should be lining up with their presidential kneepads on to show their gratitude for keeping the theocracy off our backs." -- Nina Burleigh, 1998.
Shorter version: The right wing sucks so badly on politics, that we must suck too.
Clinton rape victim, Juanita Broaddrick, was unavailable for comment.
That's how they roll.
I think Prof A asks a great question and I really do want an honest answer. But who will give it? Obama? Weinstein? The DNC? The Spin Masters Consortium on K Street?
Personally I can't imagine putting my daughter into such a situation. And I'm no politician, let alone the ex-President. For whom everything is loaded, fraught, trembling with significance and (at that height) DOWNSIDE. The first rule must be, don't screw up. Don't expose me. Don't create embarrassments.
Here? Malia is Monica-ing for Harvey, who has been groping and flashing and who knows what, for DECADES? And it is an open secret? What upside is there? Can Harvey give Malia a good letter of recommendation at summer's end, so she can maybe just possibly find an entry-level job to fetch coffee in Hollywood?
Are you kidding me?
I call this total parental negligence.
Good thing the Obamas never made a platform issue about the importance of raising kids in a healthy environment.
> He sold her.
Heh. No cotton involved.
Don't connect yourself to that man, because there's a big scandal about him that's going to blow up one day, and you want to protect your credibility on women's issues.
Scandal shmandal. It's all about accruing power, and if a few little people get hurt along the way, that's too bad. The fact that they are good on "women's issues" in the abstract in the important thing, not if they're good or polite to actual women.
People pay for the opportunity to intern? I've heard of unpaid internships (we always have had to pay ours), but the idea that someone might not only forego salary but might pay for the privilege of fetching coffee for the office says a lot about the entitled status of movie moguls. No wonder they believe actors and actresses would be willing to grant sexual favors for the chance of being in a movie -- they have people paying for the chance to be the office gofer.
Maybe the Obama family though this would be safer then letting her intern at the Clinton Foundation.
Anyway, it's not like they let their kid go into a meeting with a Russian lawyer.
A 15,000 internship with Harvey Weinstein. Pay for Play.
Why did the Clintons and Obama allow Weinstein to continue assaults on women? Groping for answers.
Considering some of the things I've observed over the last few years, Malia was much better off being exposed to a philanderer, than being exposed to a mob with stones wanting to stone her for what she wore.
Of course, both seem to be acceptable by many these days, and I wonder if Obama had to toss a coin on were to send his daughter for an internship.
"If Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment problem was an open secret, why did Malia Obama intern for him?" Faux question, I know.
A problem is only a problem when it becomes a problem.
As for why this came out now: Weinstein was having financial trouble. He hadn't had a hit in a while and had had plenty of flops. Word was he was stiffing some of his creditors, which would make it difficult for him to finance his next project. In short, Weinstein could no longer be of use to the cause by being a source of cash and influence. So, he was abandoned by his 'friends' -- the ones who'd been protecting him for decades. This wouldn't be coming out now if he were still a hit machine.
So Trump was right about the grabbing thing?
"Perhaps one could intern with him and somehow remain sublimely out of the loop, but the position would have had to have been extremely well vetted, and her advisers would have known that even if she had no direct experience with Weinstein's corrupt modus operandi that it could hurt her.
"People (like me, right now) will say you knew but you said nothing; you took personal advantage to further your career and you did not use your position of great cultural influence to help the women who were victimized in a system you were part of."
Malia knew but said nothing?? What is this nonsense? And "her advisers would have known..." Her advisers?? You mean her parents?
Man, that's some cultural analysis.
DrMaturin said...
Well, if you're asking the question why now, after all these decades, has this open secret suddenly become front page news perhaps the answer is that Weinstein tried the casting couch move on the wrong woman. Such as Malia Obama. Who told Dad.
10/6/17, 12:13 PM
You know, that could very well be. I had discounted the idea of Weinstein harassing Malia, because I didn't believe he'd be stupid enough to cross that line. But pervs are stupid enough to cross a lot of lines they shouldn't; just ask Huma's hubby.
For all his faults, Obama always seemed like he doted on his daughters, and if Malia told him Weinstein had harassed her - well, I can see him showing Weinstein (and Hillary) who's still boss of the Democratic Party.
It was one thing for a Victorian era knight to make a pass at a chambermaid and quite another for him to get fresh with a Duchess.
"He sold her." Careful, Althouse, that's a deplorable thing to say about a 19-year-old African-American girl. Woody Allen fangirl.
That's how the enforcement of silence works. If you come forward, all the Althouses in the world will think less of you and all the other women who have ever or will ever work here.
Because nobody on the left gives a rat's ass about sexual assault by important leftwing figures. They care about Power and nothing else. They care about gathering it, keeping it, and expanding it; all of the tropes they push are for the consumption of the rubes and nothing more. Liberalism in this country is dead, and has been for some time.
Malia was safe because her dad could plausibly have him killed. Walter Mondale put no such fear in Bill Clinton, so it's on yer knees wench!
"I doubt Malia was ever in a room with him alone. She would have had Secret Service protection with her."
The danger isn't that HW would do something sexual to her. (By the way, were all his victims white?) The danger is to her credibility as a someone supportive of women's issues.
And her people had to have known. Think of all the vetting that would take place before she would align herself with anyone.
I'm asking why was her reputation not preserved? I assume that she (and/or her people) saw a career advancement path. But why didn't they see that a connection to HW could hurt her?
Despite all their grand principles, the Dems have a track record of not caring when in their pursuit of power and $$$.
Fens Law.
I'm guessing that HW aggressively wanted the connection to the Obamas and was more hardcore about getting what he wanted than the Obamas.
Does anyone here really think he DIDN'T want a shot at the President's young daughter? You know he was thinking about it.
Maybe he didn't have a chance (i.e. secret service was around - or she wasn't there long enough to have many interactions with him), and maybe he would have (for once) abstained because he would be afraid of how the ex-Pres would react, but I bet he was thinking about it.
I do not want to think about Harvey's man-boobs in a wringer again Fullmoon!
"why didn't they see that a connection to HW could hurt her?" Because the problem wasn't a problem. Because the problem only becomes a problem when they decide it is a problem. Because up to then a connection to HW had helped women in politics even if it hurt women in Hollywood: priorities.
That's how they roll.
Bay Area Guy nailed it. Weinsteins money and, most importantly, his cultural influence was more valuable to the Obama's than their daughter's security.
And we shouldn't be surprised or shocked. History is replete with examples of such Machiavellian deals. As has been pointed out earlier, Democrats have been trading sex for power for quite a long time, JFK started the trend. His brothers followed suit. Ted Kennedy paid a small price for complicating his appetites with manslaughter, but his hands remained on the reins of legislative power, nonetheless. Carter broke the pattern, but being an incompetent one-termer his example had no influence.
This is not really on-topic, but thinking about Barack Obama and HW, The Mikado's "I've Got a Little List" comes to mind.
I had never heard of Weinstein's proclivities, but then I am in a completely different world. Within the world of movies and politics, it is all but certain that it was widely known. It is all but certain it was known to people vetting Malia Obama's internship- if not, then they should be fired by the Obamas today, not tomorrow.
If Weinstein is having financial problems, it could well explain why it is coming out now rather than 20 or a year ago. What I would pay to know is this- how long have the NYTimes reporters had this story before it appeared in the paper. Want to bet they had this over a year ago with just as much supporting evidence? I bet they did.
Prof. A: "...HW...was more hardcore...than the Obamas."
I saw what you did there.
But why didn't they see that a connection to HW could hurt her?
History.
Malia's job at The Weinstein Co. was reportedly fairly common entry level work that consisted of the teen reading through unsolicited scripts sent into the office.
How would such an inexperienced person evaluate scripts?
I should look this up but will just post it here for the record.
Harvey mossed with a lot of people and the complaints/claims/settlements go back a while, so I'm told.
Were his companies public? Was any of this reportable and, if so, reported? If his companies were private, were shareholders and directors advised? That Harvey was the object of claims about how he was (mis)managing things?
Did any corporate assets (including the time of legal counsel) get charged to investigating, defending or settling these claims?
Were any D&O policies triggered, whether for actual payments or just for required notices?
What representations were made to the D&O or other carriers, or others who were going to eat a liability, because of Harvey's habits?
If Harvey's corporate environment were transposed to a campus setting, at what point would we say it was a "rape culture" and indeed a "Hunting Ground" worthy of documentation by his own film crews?
Gahrie said...
I doubt Malia was ever in a room with him alone. She would have had Secret Service protection with her.
I had a vision of the Bedroom scene from "Absolute Power". Harvey grabs her boob and the SS put 5 rounds into him...
you did not use your position of great cultural influence to help the women who were victimized in a system you were part of.
This appears to be an Althouse hot-button.
Systems are more interesting than Althouse gives them credit for.
The danger isn't that HW would do something sexual to her. (By the way, were all his victims white?) The danger is to her credibility as a someone supportive of women's issues.
What "danger to her credibility"? Every feminists and feminist organization in the U.S. was supportive of Bill Clinton (except Tammy Bruce) and what damage has been done to any of them? Hell his chief enabler has nearly been elected president twice.
Rick: "...how would such an inexperienced person evaluate scripts?"
Good question. I would like to learn more, and I am guessing the public would like to learn more, about Malia's job description and what she actually did. I think there's a big difference between being one of 50 interns in a cube farm (or even sited off-campus with a laptop) asked to process routine stuff in hopes of getting a generic "OK" at the end of 8 or 10 weeks, and being HW's very personal assistant with 24/7 responsibility to see to his personal needs and the power to call for helicopters and catering around the clock.
Maybe Malia can tell us more?
you did not use your position of great cultural influence to help the women who were victimized in a system you were part of.
Wouldn't this also apply to say...a female law professor who taught at a university where 20% of the women who attended were raped?
How would such an inexperienced person evaluate scripts?
10/6/17, 1:08 PM
"This script is about some cracka ranch family in Wyoming and their bluc collar cracka friends...yawn"
Malia tosses script in recycle bin.
"This script is about the oppression of a young transsexual AA and xer Hispanic illegal immigrant lover who dreams of being the first female linebacker in the NFL. Their diverse circle of Ivy League educated woke friends help them fight bigotry, discrimination and having to use the men's restroom....
OK, this one's a winner!"
Blogger Drago said...
Despite all their grand principles, the Dems have a track record of not caring when in their pursuit of power and $$$.
Fens Law.
...
Where is Fen? Haven't seen him here in weeks.
It's Malia's fault.
Exiled @ 1:17: "...This script is about some cracka ranch family in Wyoming and their bluc collar cracka friends...yawn"
Would that be "Legends of the Fall"?
I think we'll only learn a tiny fraction of Harvey's predations. But what we will learn is the full extent of the hypocrisy of the entertainment industry when it comes to charges of sexual harassment.
Owen said...
Exiled @ 1:17: "...This script is about some cracka ranch family in Wyoming and their bluc collar cracka friends...yawn"
Would that be "Legends of the Fall"?
10/6/17, 1:38 PM
Yeah, but that was made in 1994.
Things were different then.
Malia's job at The Weinstein Co. was reportedly fairly common entry level work that consisted of the teen reading through unsolicited scripts sent into the office
Do you think reading crappy scripts is better or worse than reading & recording info about women's magazines all day?
"How would such an inexperienced person evaluate scripts?"
-- Send her scripts where she's in the target demographic, and see if she likes it. Sort of a paid focus group.
Also: Hillary Clinton is given credibility on women's issues by the media. I don't think interning for an asshole can hurt your credibility more than smearing your husband's victims. There's no way to think the kid did anything wrong taking the internship.
"But what we will learn is the full extent of the hypocrisy of the entertainment industry when it comes to charges of sexual harassment."
-- We've known that for decades. Roman Polanski's still a hero, remember.
"A: Because Harvey is a rich, loyal Democrat, and as a long as Malia was not the one being groped, berated, coaxed, or fondled, the Obamas didn't care.
What do I win?"
The Sharper Than Althouse Today prize. But today even Hardin wins that!
"I'm guessing that HW aggressively wanted the connection to the Obamas and was more hardcore about getting what he wanted than the Obamas."
In other words, you're guessing that all the bad faith came from HW and none from the Obamas. The only way a supposed vetter would only be able to nix such an internship would be with the knowledge of the Obamas. If your daughter wanted the job and you thought highly of the guy, would you (as President!) accept without explanation the word of a vetter? Not unless you were told "it's really bad" and decided not to ask because you find it convenient not to know -- bad faith.
And of course if HW "sold" her he did so with the permission of "that lovely man".
First, there is no way that Weinstein would harass Malia Obama. Her dad is too popular and too powerful. So she would be safe there.
Second, the Obama name carries enough weight that her marginal association with Weinstein wouldn't harm her, but still allow her to make enough contacts in the entertainment business that would persist even after Weinstein imploded.
However, if it could be proven that Malia witnessed sexual harassment and did nothing about it? That could damage her. But it would need to be proof that's stronger than what took Weinstein down. And since she was there for only a year, I don't see that happening.
C'mon, it's not like Harvey put Malia Obama in a nice office, with a nice stereo system, blasting an old hit single from the Rolling Stones
Brown Sugar (1971)
Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in a market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he's doing alright
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
Brown sugar how come you taste so good?
Brown sugar just like a young girl should
Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot
Lady of the house wonderin' where it's gonna stop
House boy knows that he's doing alright
You shoulda heard him just around midnight
Brown sugar how come you taste so good, now?
Brown sugar just like a young girl should, now
Ah, get along, brown sugar how come you taste so good, baby?
Ah, got me feelin' now, brown sugar just like a black girl should
Wait, I never really read the lyrics! It sounds like Mick and Keith are glorifying violence and rape of black female slaves!
Barack sold her as well. Why would you put your daughter under someone like that knowingly? Because it's all about power, money and influence. Pathetic.
but the position would have had to have been extremely well vetted
If you believe the Obamas didn't know about "God damn America" then why assume they knew about Weinstein?
Honestly, unlike most every crisis and scandal in his administration, I'd believe the news was the first time Obama heard anything like this about this guy.
The danger isn't that HW would do something sexual to her. (By the way, were all his victims white?) The danger is to her credibility as a someone supportive of women's issues.
Not really terribly dangerous as there is no consequence for hypocrisy for Democrats.
Also, she was never in any danger of his behaving crudely toward her. A. she probably never saw him (it's not like she was a personal assistant or something) B. what kind of moron is going to hit on the daughter of a beloved past president C. slimeballs like that guy only take advantage of women well below them socially. The lord of the manor only fucks servant girls, not the daughters of his peers.
In The World According to Garp, an editor used to leave manuscripts on his desk, if his cleaning lady didn't clean because she spent the night reading, he knew he jad a winner. She was highly paid. Maybe that's the job Malia was given.
@Missing Pants,
The lord of the manor only fucks servant girls, not the daughters of his peers.
Generally true, but exceptions where the Lord of the Manor is Joseph P. Kennedy and the gal is actress, Gloria Swanson. See No. 4 of 7 Kennedy sex scandals.
I guess he persisted.
Selling a black woman...sounds like slavery.
Bay Area Guy: I never understood how Mick and the boys got away with that one.
Brown Sugar has a great opening riff, perhaps that excuses the lyrics. Or maybe nobody understood what the hell Jagger was singing about, which is par for the course for most Stones songs.
Supposedly, Marsha Hunt,Mick's black girlfriend inspired Brown Sugar. He had a daughter by her.
Ann Althouse said...I'm guessing that HW aggressively wanted the connection to the Obamas and was more hardcore about getting what he wanted than the Obamas.
Oh? How much money and influence did the Obamas and their political party get from Weinstein? Why assume the Obamas didn't go after that? Lucrative connections and sweetheart deals are the real compensation for most big government jobs now, including President. Why assume the Obamas didn't work hard to secure those from Harvey & friends?
Michelle Obama called Weinstein "a wonderful human being" in 2013. Should we doubt her judgement, her sincerity, or her own moral compass?
Eh. Being on the Left means never having to say you're sorry.
"It's Malia's fault."
Correct family.
Keep going.
FullMoon said...
"Sad day for me at AA when Brookzene makes more sense than some of my favorite commenters"
Indeed. The chick is a 20-year-old stoner. And both Obamas take it as a given that "internships" are code for someone paying you to come into the office once a week, cause you're connected. Where do you imagine she's going to "work" while they find a suitable sinecure to plop her into? Some law office where the partners are all eunuchs?
"Sorting through the "slush pile," as the voluminous mass is called, is draining, often unrewarding work"
Is it even work at all? Seems like a gig where you could just play on the internet all day and pretend you sorted through a bunch of mostly bad scripts. Who would know or care? Most are probably so bad that you can tell they're bad right away.
And [Malia's] people had to have known. Think of all the vetting that would take place before she would align herself with anyone.
But maybe they didn't know because of his tremendous power -- from The Cut:
"The best reporters out there tried, for years, perhaps most memorably David Carr, for this magazine. But Weinstein didn’t just exert physical power. He also employed legal and professional and economic power. He supposedly had every employee sign elaborate, binding nondisclosure agreements. He gave jobs to people who might otherwise work to bring him down, and gave gobs of money to other powerful people, who knows how much, but perhaps just enough to keep them from listening to ugly rumors that might circulate among young people, among less powerful people. For decades, the reporters who tried to tell the story of Harvey Weinstein butted up against the same wall of sheer force and immovable power that was leveraged against those ambitious actors, the vulnerable assistants, the executives whose careers, salaries, and reputations were in his hands."
Why did they let their daughter intern with a lech? They don't care.
Why would you put your daughter under someone like that knowingly?
My daughter interned at the Clinton foundation. Sometimes.....you gotta let go.
Oh, yeah....we were paid with a nifty picture of my daughter with Bill Clinton.
My guess is it is something so common in both politics and show business that the Obamas didn't even notice it. They were just certain Harvey wouldn't go after Malia.
That's why I said poor Billy Bush when this came out. He was punished for knowing the kind of thing people in show business know about all kinds of bigwigs, and keep quiet.
It is interesting that Jodi Kantor wrote about this, and has been and Obama hagiographer.
He's a wonderful human being we're told http://thefederalist.com/2017/10/06/michelle-obama-2013-harvey-weinstein-wonderful-human/
I think Malia is going to have more trouble with drugs than perverts like Weinstein.
Maybe she doesn't like men.
Obama never was one for solidarity, though.
She interned with him cause she likes that nasty power!!
Malia's job at The Weinstein Co. was reportedly fairly common entry level work that consisted of the teen reading through unsolicited scripts sent into the office....
I had lunch with a person who occasionally had some interaction with the Weinstein company well before this story came out. They mentioned Malias internship. Their gossip was that Malia was invited to meetings with Weinstein by Weinstein subordinates as a shield against his rage. He would behave in the presence of the former Presidents daughter. Weinstein wasn’t the only one using Malia.
Honestly, I smell something fishy. I would hope that vetting for and security for the First-daughter wounder be very thorough. So, even if the parents were shocked, they should have been shocked by the information prior to their daughter's internshiPhone. I have lost all faith in US government background checks.
Post a Comment