November 8, 2017

Brain teaser about Hillary Clinton in Donna Brazile's book.

I've been reading Donna Brazile's new book "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House," and I encountered a (presumably unintended) brain teaser, which I have already figured out.

First, see if you can find the brain teaser in this passage. The context is, some weeks after the election, Donna Brazile –  the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee — is finally getting a telephone call from Hillary Clinton:
She asked me how I was doing and I said I was fine. She sounded rested and confident, as if the Hillary I knew had returned. I told her about the Future Forums and that I felt good about the people who were running to be the new leaders of the party. We were in better shape financially than we had been in months. Before leaving the White House, the president had agreed to do one more fund-raising appeal, and our online fund-raising was outpacing previous months. We had almost $11 million in the bank, which would give the new chair a head start. This was chitchat, like I was talking to someone I didn’t know. This was not I can’t wait to see you. Let’s get together. You stepped up and I really wanted to thank you for doing it. I know Hillary. I know she was being as sincere as possible, but I wanted something more from her.
So does she know Hillary or not? She says "the Hillary I knew had returned" and "I know Hillary," but also that it was "like... talking to someone I didn’t know."

My solution to the brain teaser is: The real Hillary is like a person you do not know.

45 comments:

The Bergall said...

Kind of soulless..........

Equipment Maintenance said...

"I know she was being as sincere as possible..."
That's the brain teaser: What is Hillary Clinton's maximum sincerity ?

Heartless Aztec said...

And at a certain stage of life why would you? Getting to know people is tiresome - even people you already know.

Tim said...

Intellectual consistency is the Hobgoblin of small minds.

Having a decent editor would also go a long way in this instance.

DavidD said...

Donna Brazile wants to blame break-ins and breakdowns for Trump’s win when it was solely the fact that he wasn’t Hillary that did it—well, that and the fact that Trump is vocal. Funny that he doesn’t have to be right—apparently enough people appreciate that he speaks out, even when he has nothing to say.

Tommy Duncan said...

After decades of constant deceit there is no Hillary to know.

• Chelsea was jogging around the Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
• Hillary was named after Sir Edmund Hillary.
• She was under sniper fire in Bosnia.
• She learned in The Wall Street Journal how to make a killing in the futures market.

David Begley said...

I know Hillary. She’s a sick and pathological liar who would have been tried for numerous crimes but for her political power.

robother said...

May be true of a lot of these Presidential-level public persons. Hollywood actors don't have to remain in character 24/7.

Hillary has reduced her persona to that of a candidate, completely scripted. Trump represents the opposite extreme, impatient with any scripting, always looking to ad lib his way out of any speech.

Matt Sablan said...

The Hillary she knew would only cheat in Democrat favor, not just in Hillary's favor. Brazille who smuggled Hillary debate questions is learning there is no honor among thieves.

Kevin said...

The real Hillary is like a person you do not know.

The reason they don't know her is because they cannot accept who she truly is. When faced with the truth, they reject it and go back to unknowingness, rather than accept they've been conned all along.

I suspect this is the underlying theme of Brazile's book. It is the story of how she is coming to terms with that fact.

Matt Sablan said...

The theme of the book is go away. I know more skeletons in the closet.

traditionalguy said...

Being an authentic human with other humans is not a Royal trait. Somewhere along the way of arranging mass murder for money they lose it. Ask Princess Diana about the Windsors.

Martha said...

So entertaining to watch a proud Black woman turn on pretend feminist Hillary!
Hillary is fake through and through. Her only allegiance is to power.

tim in vermont said...

"I know Hillary. I know she was being as sincere as possible."

Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. Hillary's big problem was that she couldn't fake sincerity.

tola'at sfarim said...

" To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law"

Ralph L said...

There's a difference between the Hillary cackle returning to normal after the pneumonia and curb-diving, and discussing unimportant things "like I was talking to someone I didn’t know."
Sound versus subject matter.

Rob said...

Poor Donna Brazile. As Interim Chair, she was disrespected by the Clinton campaign which assigned a low-level nobody to be theliaison with the DNC (and he had the gall to give her orders) and by Hillary Clinton herself as recounted here. In modern black America, there’s no worse offense than being disrespected. It warrants a beatdown, which is exactly what Brazile’s book is.

Wilbur said...

Didn't Obama tell her she's likeable enough?

Fernandinande said...

"First, see if you can find the brain teaser in this passage."

Nope, I can't do it. Unpossible.

"It" being caring what Donna writes about Billary.

Eric said...

The lesson that Donna should have learned is that even when you think that you and Hillary know each other, she has barely noticed you. It can be that way with royalty, real or imagined.

tcrosse said...

The reason they don't know her is because they cannot accept who she truly is.

Bingo !

Michael K said...

We all learned who Hillary is if we read "Unlimited Access" back in 1998.

"Good morning, Ma'am."

"Fuck you!"

BJM said...

I've always felt that Hillary is calculating, guarded and mistrusting by nature, this does not translate to retail politics.

Living with Bill for most of her adult life, eclipsed by his political shadow, and dealing with the shambles he leaves behind feeds these instincts.

I'm not a fan of either, but the spectacle they are making of themselves as they struggle to remain politically germaine is becoming hard to watch. Their time has passed. They need step off the national stage and reinvent themselves.

Brazile is making the point that go they must, or they will be shoved off.

Wilbur said...

"Living with Bill for most of her adult life".

No, she hasn't.

traditionalguy said...

Brazile's book is author narrated over at Audible. She is excellent at doing political communication. She would be a worthy opponent for Donald Trump. Watch out for her skills . She is like a tough Jimmy Carter.

Michael K said...

"They need step off the national stage and reinvent themselves. "

That assumes all those shady characters who funded their "foundation" all these years are willing to write off those millions.

Clayton Hennesey said...

"So, Donna, how are your book sales doing?"

Hagar said...

I strongly suspect that Bill Clinton is the only person to ever see the "real" Hillary Rodham.

madAsHell said...

She is excellent at doing political communication.

It begs the question. What is political communication? Are brain teasers part of political communication?......or did I miss the sarcasm?

I think she wrote her own book. That paragraph isn't worth parsing.


AllenS said...

There is a simple reason that BJ Clinton searched for other women, and it has everything to do with Hillary.

Wilbur said...

I know several educated, mature Democratic black voters who will tell you they would vote for Lester Maddox before Hillary Clinton. Why? The "I ain't no ways tard" speech. Highly offensive and beyond condescending to them.

Anonymous said...

I thought the brain teaser would be, what does "I know she was being as sincere as possible" refer to? Up to this point Brazile has been doing all the talking.

Howard said...

C'mon Allen, you are a man of the world for Christ sake. Bubba is as Bubba does. He would be cheating on Melania because the boy has a wild ass taste for strange. The Clinton marriage was a uberly successful business arrangement... for Bubba. Hillary! not so much.

Yancey Ward said...

Brazile is going to need major backup if the goal is to shove Hillary off the political stage- and I mean major backup. The Democrats, if they are going to rid themselves of Clinton need to put a stake through her heart, and that will require someone to step up and put her ass in jail. Someone out there in the Democratic Party has the goods on her- if they want to rid themselves of her, they have to come forward. Given the ferocity of the pushback against Brazile in the media, I still think Clinton is the likely nominee in 2020 unless Michelle Obama is put up as the counter.

If they think Hillary will bow out because they tell her to bow out, they don't know Hillary either.

Jay Vogt said...

I have no idea how truthful, enigmatic or self-serving Donna Brazile is being in the book. Probably she's just trying to make a bunch of money. Good for her. That said, the other day on a related post, I gave here credit for a rare success in double entendre book titling - which are usually as blatant as they are lame.

Reding a bit more of the excerpts though, I see that I didn't giver her enough credit. It's actually a pretty good TRIPLE entendre:

Hacks = Agressive unwanted intrusions to an information network
Hacks = Bumbling feckless trying to do something important
Hacks = Uncontrolled coughing fits.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Hacks... The kind of cough when you're trying to bring something up and get it out of your body.

BJM said...

@Wilbur

It doesn't matter if they live under the same roof or not. The Roosevelts lived separate lives, and like Hillary, Eleanor had no other identity, although she was much more successful in leveraging FDR's charisma and popularity to her own ends. However those were vastly different times and perhaps that's not a fair analogy.

Hillary cannot escape Bill's orbit without fading into obscurity and that's not going to happen, she's vested in Clinton Inc for the long haul. Her true strength and vocation may be in protecting Bill and perhaps that is the understanding between them.

I've often wondered if the Obama's don't have a similar symbiotic relationship...two halves creating a political whole.

tcrosse said...

The question is whether the Big Money guys who bankrolled Hillary in 2016 are ready to double down on her in 2020. Who else could they buy with any expectation of success ?

Known Unknown said...

There is no real Hillary. There never was.

I see a book title: "The Girl Who Was Never There"

TheGiantPeach said...

As I was walking down the stair, I saw a Woman Who Wasn't There.
She wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish she'd go away.

Jim at said...

Oh, I know Hillary. Worse, I know people just like her.

They are the most miserable people on the planet.

I avoid them like the plague ... because that's what they are.

tim in vermont said...

Wait until they realize that Obama was just an illusion too.

Jeff said...

Short version: The real Hillary is phony.

JAORE said...

The real Hillary is a person you do not want to know.

FIFY

tim in vermont said...

It’s not as therapeutic as actual grief,” she said. “Actual grief, there’s a stage in which you can move on, but in political grief, it’s circling because everybody feels as though their indignation, their righteous indignation, can be aimed at and turned to someone else.”

What a way to live.