Althouse: "There. I said it."

April 18, 2018

"There. I said it."

Hagiographies of recently deceased ruling class members tend to make me very, very grumpy. pic.twitter.com/pABZsmdgi6
— Tom & Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) April 18, 2018

84 comments:

BarrySanders20 said...: Curious that they saved the “there I said it” for the least offensive ruling class member of all.; 4/18/18, 8:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Least offensive? Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."; 4/18/18, 8:57 AM
traditionalguy said...: Never speak evil of the dead.; 4/18/18, 9:08 AM
Curious George said...: "Ann Althouse said...
Least offensive? Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Says who?; 4/18/18, 9:10 AM
chickelit said...: How very catty of them.; 4/18/18, 9:11 AM
Curious George said...: "Ann Althouse said...
Least offensive? Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Time doesn't even menton it in their list
http://time.com/5244413/barbara-bush-most-memorable-quotes/; 4/18/18, 9:13 AM
lgv said...: Most famous quote? Because it contrasts with all her other less famous quotes?

We listened to the wonderful service and sacrifice of Ted Kennedy after his death. Truly a member of the ruling class.; 4/18/18, 9:13 AM
MayBee said...: Yeah, they prefer to do hagiography of the very living Michelle Obama.; 4/18/18, 9:14 AM
CStanley said...: It would be interesting to know how many people there would have agreed with her, and looking back now I wonder how many lives really were lifted out of the hellholes of the N.O. housing projects as a result of that evacuation.

An impolitic, but likely very accurate statement by a woman who was always forthright and candid. But I have to agree that she was of the "ruling class" and quite oblivious to how her words sounded.; 4/18/18, 9:14 AM
rehajm said...: What a burden on top of the mid level drepression and all the stay home from school ailments you’ve had to endure since the election.; 4/18/18, 9:17 AM
Fernandinande said...: Ann Althouse said...
Her most famous quote was [not]: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

They weren't in arenas?
They weren't underprivileged?
It wasn't working very well?
I don't get it?

++

Mrs. Barbara Bush
The First Lady
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.

Dear First Lady:

I recently read your criticism of my family. I was deeply hurt. Heaven knows we're far from perfect and, if truth be known, maybe just a wee bit short of normal; but as Dr. Seuss says, "a person is a person".

I try to teach my children Bart, Lisa, and even little Maggie, always to give somebody the benefit of the doubt and not talk badly about them, even if they're rich. It's hard to get them to understand this advice when the very First Lady in the country calls us not only dumb, but "the dumbest thing" she ever saw. Ma'am, if we're the dumbest thing you ever saw, Washington must be a good deal different than what they teach me at the current events group at the church.

I always believed in my heart that we had a great deal in common. Each of us living our lives to serve an exceptional man. I hope there is some way out of this controversy. I thought, perhaps, it would be a good start to just speak my mind.

With great respect,

(Signed)

Marge Simpson; 4/18/18, 9:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Is it me, or are those some cartoonishly over-sized hound's teeth in that houndstooth fabric?

(As long as we're getting our catty on.); 4/18/18, 9:25 AM
Fernandinande said...: chickelit said...
How very catty of them.

So you think Tom & Lorenzo are funny, chickelit? I can't imagine what sort of mind thinks like that. Sad.; 4/18/18, 9:25 AM
Sally327 said...: "Least offensive? Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

I don't think that was her most famous quote. That was...it rhymes with rich...speaking about Geraldine Ferraro.

That quote about the evacuees...perhaps not artfully said but I think it was mostly true.; 4/18/18, 9:25 AM
William said...: During her lifetime, there were great advances in the field of cosmetic surgery, but she never availed herself of those services. Nancy Pelosi is actually five years older than Barbara Bush and look at how much more youthful and bouncy Nancy iappears, especially now that Barbara is dead.,,,...I think the new role model for women ishould be Stormy Daniels. There's a woman who's not afraid of a little cosmetic surgery or to pursue an independent career in defiance of the patriarchy. I would like to hear Stormy's reflections on Barbara Bush.; 4/18/18, 9:26 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Ann Althouse said...

Least offensive? Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

4/18/18, 8:57 AM

Do people deserve to have one ill-advised statement define their entire lives and completely overshadow everything else they did or said over the course of decades?

Republicans do, apparently. Democrats get a pass.; 4/18/18, 9:27 AM
Rick said...: Barbara's quote only becomes offensive if you imbue it with meaning beyond hers. Leftists talk about under-privilege in every sentence but apparently we're supposed to believe it's offensive for anyone else to recognize it.; 4/18/18, 9:28 AM
Rick said...: Nancy Pelosi is actually five years older than Barbara Bush

Pelosi is 78, Bush was 92.; 4/18/18, 9:30 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Many people apparently don't know that the Bushes lost a baby girl to leukemia. That's when Barbara's hair turned white (I used to believe that someone's hair turning white from grief was only a figure of speech, but I know a man whose hair turned white when his son was killed by a drunk driver) and she refused to dye it. She kept it natural as a tribute to her daughter.

Nancy Pelosi reminds me of the plastic surgery addict in the movie "Brazil."; 4/18/18, 9:41 AM
CJ said...: I wonder if Tom and Lorenzo will feel the same when Ruth Bader kicks the bucket and we hear the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments as Steve Bannon is briefly forgiven for a meeting with the President to choose her successor.

Will her hagiography make him very, very grumpy?; 4/18/18, 9:41 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "I would like to hear Stormy's reflections on Barbara Bush."

I'm sure they're profound.; 4/18/18, 9:42 AM
Whatever you say said...: On opposition to her own ideas
“No big deal. Even I was 20 once.”

When students at Wellesley College objected to #BarbaraBush giving a commencement address in 1990, she said it’s “no big deal. Even I was 20 once.” https://t.co/3wx4wFp2VC #BarbaraBushQuotes pic.twitter.com/xwUFuHExUU

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) April 18, 2018; 4/18/18, 9:43 AM
CJ said...: Nancy Pelosi reminds me of the plastic surgery addict in the movie "Brazil."

Hah. Interesting comparison. Nancy's philosophy and morality are also like "Brazil" - a surreal unreality with logic so twisted it's impossible to get the pipes to connect correctly.; 4/18/18, 9:44 AM
Ralph L said...: At least First Ladies have private funerals, or did CSPAN help bury Eleanor Roosevelt?; 4/18/18, 9:47 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: There. I said it.

The vast majority of things that preceed There. I said it. should not have been said.; 4/18/18, 9:48 AM
Drago said...: BarrySanders20: "Curious that they saved the “there I said it” for the least offensive ruling class member of all"

They saved it for a republican.

And the next republican.

And the next.

Never a dem though. Heavens no. Too busy advancing the "hagiographic" narratives of the recently deceased dem/ruling class members who were dems/lefties.

For example, if Mary Jo Kopechne were alive today, she would be grateful for Ted Kennedy's policies.; 4/18/18, 9:56 AM
CStanley said...: Many people apparently don't know that the Bushes lost a baby girl to leukemia.

This. And this:

Do people deserve to have one ill-advised statement define their entire lives and completely overshadow everything else they did or said over the course of decades?

Of course they don't, and the animus toward her for being an insulated member of the upper class is misplaced when one considers that wealth doesn't protect people from all tragedy and pain in life. I also wonder why people who are solidly upper middle class, who have never known poverty themselves, demand a standard from the "ruling class" that they never seem to feel obligated to live up to themselves.; 4/18/18, 9:56 AM
mockturtle said...: Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Really? I thought her most famous remark was referring to Hillary as a B-I-T-C-H.; 4/18/18, 9:58 AM
CJ said...: "For example, if Mary Jo Kopechne were alive today, she would be grateful for Ted Kennedy's policies."

I think Iowahawk said: "She died so that the Food and Nutrition Labeling Act might live".; 4/18/18, 10:04 AM
Birches said...: Whatever. Talk to me in thirty years when Michelle passes.

One thing that does annoy me when someone famous dies. The fact that everyone must comment on it, even just a RIP, on social media. Hmmm. I guess T and L fit the bill.; 4/18/18, 10:06 AM
William said...: If Stormy Daniels were invited to give a commencement address at Wellesley, would any of the students protest.; 4/18/18, 10:07 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

I still liked her and respected her for her strength, humor, her love of family. Everyone says regrettable things and no one is perfect.; 4/18/18, 10:08 AM
CJinPA said...: Who tweeted that, Tom or Lorenzo?; 4/18/18, 10:10 AM
William said...: I saw the BBC coverage of Winnie Mandela's passing. They mentioned in passing some of the scandals but the overall effect was laudatory.; 4/18/18, 10:10 AM
Curious George said...: Tom and Lorenzo can eat bag of dicks.; 4/18/18, 10:12 AM
Birkel said...: Rick,
Which parts of Nancy Pelosi are you claiming to be 78 years old?; 4/18/18, 10:17 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Inga calls it.; 4/18/18, 10:22 AM
FIDO said...: For my allies, everything, for my enemies, nothing.

They would never say such things about a Liberal Democrat, even a horrible murderer or rapist like Kennedy and Clinton.

So this is just some more bile from the Left, once again, trying to drag down rather good and respectable people with, in Althousian fashion, a single quote.; 4/18/18, 10:23 AM
Bill said...: Well said, Inga.; 4/18/18, 10:30 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I can't wait til Slow Joe Biden dies. That'll be fun seeing the MSM and dopey celebs gush over an imbecile who never missed a govt paycheck in 45 years while believing and uttering the stupidest shit ever.; 4/18/18, 10:32 AM
wwww said...: If they make you grumpy, there is an easy solution -- do not read them.

She was the mother and wife of two Presidents. She is a notable historical figure in the realm of Abagail Adams.; 4/18/18, 10:44 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Toxic homosexuality.; 4/18/18, 10:48 AM
Comanche Voter said...: Upper class lady, elegant in pearls. Contrast that with Michelle Obama striding out of Air Force One in a wrinkled shirt, bermuda shorts and flip flops, looking like she could play transgender linebacker for the Chicago Bears.

Barbara Bush got better looking as she got older; the odds of Mrs. Obama getting better looking as she gets older are not very good. And Mrs.Obama's most memorable qoute probably is the one about "being finally proud of America".

I'm sorry Ms. Althouse but when it comes to First Ladies in living memory, I will stick with Barbara Bush and Melania Trump---and try to bleach my eyeballs (and stuff my ears) when I think about Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Your mileage may vary, and that's okay.; 4/18/18, 10:50 AM
MayBee said...: Least offensive? Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Yup. And her husband is most famous for pinching a model on the butt during a photo.; 4/18/18, 11:00 AM
Achilles said...: She was married to a financier of Nazi's. Mother of Chimpy McHitler. She was a racist bigot.

Now that she is dead leftists say nice stuff about her.

Because she is dead.

Well not all leftists. But some like Inga are pretending.; 4/18/18, 11:16 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “But some like Inga are pretending.”

Some like Achilles are extremist nutcases.; 4/18/18, 11:21 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Comanche Voter said...

Contrast that with Michelle Obama striding out of Air Force One in a wrinkled shirt, bermuda shorts and flip flops, looking like she could play transgender linebacker for the Chicago Bears.

Now you've gone too far. The Chicago Bears require all player, including the transgender linebackers, to wear a suit and tie while traveling with the team.; 4/18/18, 11:22 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Ann Althouse said...
Least offensive? Her most famous quote was: "And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

4/18/18, 8:57 AM

Bitch, you've said ten thousand things that are ten thousand times more offensive than that. <--*very* mild hyperbole

Moreover, you stand by every one of them, because you're never wrong, even when you are.; 4/18/18, 11:24 AM
FWBuff said...: I followed Tom and Lorenzo on Twitter for years because they were (usually) funny and incisive. I stopped following them after they referred to Melania Trump as "Eva Braun" on Trump's inauguration day.; 4/18/18, 11:40 AM
Rick said...: Some like Achilles are extremist nutcases.

Did he claim the religious right wants to create The Handmaid's Tale in America?

No? So in terms of relative extremism maybe a .1 Inga.; 4/18/18, 11:42 AM
Howard said...: Inga, you know better. Achilles is not crazy or a nutcase poised to murder himself or his family or his boss and coworkers. He is quite obviously beat down by a dragon-lady wife, like the long-suffering dog of a cruel owner who simultaneously nips at strangers and shits himself.; 4/18/18, 11:42 AM
Rick said...: Birkel said...
Rick,
Which parts of Nancy Pelosi are you claiming to be 78 years old?

The implants make the discrepancy worse, not better.; 4/18/18, 11:48 AM
JAORE said...: Bitchy little girls...

there I said it.; 4/18/18, 11:51 AM
M Jordan said...: That tweet articulates my feeling exactly. I have bit my tongue — actually, restrained my fingers — from saying something snarky about Barbara Bush because this media lovefest over BB is really ticking me off. I’ve used faint praise as well. But she’s been gone a day now so maybe I can let loose my true feelings about the Bushes, a family I voted for six times.

But I’m too dignified a personage, so I’ll continue to bite my lip and issue faint praise. Didja see that photo of BB on the bike? Lovely.; 4/18/18, 12:40 PM
William said...: People who were skeptical of Obama's birthplace unquestioningly accept Nancy Pelosi's bland assertion that she's only 78 years old. As if. She lives in the land of make up artists and cosmetic surgeons. Has anyone seen her birth certificate? Beyond that, there's the very real possibility of animatronics. Why is there a green screen behind her during so many of her public appearances?; 4/18/18, 12:53 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: When I read that quote about the underprivileged from Barbara Bush I thought, that's how she would have handled the situation if she had been poor. She was that tough. I remember reading her description of her early married life in Texas when GW Bush first got into the oil business and he was traveling all the time to various drilling sites trying to prove himself by becoming a successful businessman. They had a very middle class apartment over a store, or something like that, and she was left alone a lot with the children. She said she resented being left behind but she knew she had to deal with it. This time George is the one left behind.; 4/18/18, 12:56 PM
William said...: No one made any snarky comments about Winnie Mandela after she passed on. I believe the politically correct response was to bury her quickly with as little comment as possible.; 4/18/18, 12:56 PM
Ralph L said...: I thought her most famous remark was referring to Hillary as a B-I-T-C-H.
Newt's mom said that to Connie Chung. Also BB? BB said rhymes with rich about Ferraro.; 4/18/18, 12:59 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “So in terms of relative extremism maybe a .1 Inga.”

So Rick is still an extremely passive aggressive little bitch.; 4/18/18, 12:59 PM
Rick said...: So Rick is still an extremely passive aggressive little bitch.

If you're going to use the phrase you should probably learn what passive aggressive means.

At least you've grown up enough not to call other commenters a C.; 4/18/18, 1:09 PM
Drago said...: By the way, rats are the primary source of protein in the latest lefty economic success story of Venezuela.; 4/18/18, 1:10 PM
Drago said...: Inga: "So Rick is still an extremely passive aggressive little bitch."

Yep.

Inga is still at 1.0Inga levels.

Which makes sense when you think about it.

It's also become clear there is a direct correlation and your relative Inga-level and your QsubS (Socialism Quotient).

Whether or not it is a 1 to 1 correlation will depend on our final calculations from LLR Chuck observations.; 4/18/18, 1:12 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Inga, you know better. Achilles is not crazy or a nutcase poised to murder himself or his family or his boss and coworkers. He is quite obviously beat down by a dragon-lady wife, like the long-suffering dog of a cruel owner who simultaneously nips at strangers and shits himself.”

I dunno Howard. I can see his name splattered all over the news after he goes postal, spurred on by not one single solitary Democrat going to jail after all the IG reports are published, or some such nonsense.; 4/18/18, 1:13 PM
Achilles said...: Don't you guys have some political opponents to assault or spy on?; 4/18/18, 1:53 PM
rcocean said...: For some reason all these ex-presidents and ex-first ladies are living forever.

The Carters are still alive and pushing 95. Dole is still alive. Bush I is still alive. Mondale probably won't kick the bucket for another 10 years.; 4/18/18, 2:06 PM
rcocean said...: 95 is the new 80; 4/18/18, 2:07 PM
Achilles said...: Inga said...

“Inga, you know better. Achilles is not crazy or a nutcase poised to murder himself or his family or his boss and coworkers. He is quite obviously beat down by a dragon-lady wife, like the long-suffering dog of a cruel owner who simultaneously nips at strangers and shits himself.”

I dunno Howard. I can see his name splattered all over the news after he goes postal, spurred on by not one single solitary Democrat going to jail after all the IG reports are published, or some such nonsense.

Look at the stalinists talking to themselves.

You support violence and persecution.

McCabe is sounding pretty bitter. He is the first in the chute. And it doesn't sound like he wants to go down alone. He is already on the hook for multiple accounts of perjury, leaking classified information, and conspiring to leak classified information.

Squeal.; 4/18/18, 2:19 PM
Titus said...: I love the character in the video. Up Schitts Creek on Netflix-watch it. Catherine O'Hara is divine in the series.; 4/18/18, 2:22 PM
Kelly said...: There’s so many more important and interesting things these two catty bitches want to talk about, like who wore what and what high heels Kim Kardashian’s wearing and who designed them. Stuff that’ll change the world.; 4/18/18, 2:59 PM
Titus said...: The Bush family always boated into Ogunquit Maine to eat at local restaurants on the cove. They were total fag hags. Ogunquit is totally gay and French.; 4/18/18, 3:27 PM
FIDO said...: I am awaiting Mueller's raid into BB's will reading and the arrest of her lawyer just in case it has some bearing on the election, since she was so important.

Why wouldn't he? He seems to be going after anyone with an (R) next to their name.; 4/18/18, 3:40 PM
David said...: Worse when they are still alive.; 4/18/18, 4:03 PM
Quaestor said...: I'm surprised Tom and Lorenzo could stop fucking each other's mouths long enough to tweet that rubbish. BTW, Tom and Lorenzo indirectly reveal that neither knows what a hagiography is.; 4/18/18, 4:10 PM
Howard said...: Q is sending Titus a friend request on closet-grinder.; 4/18/18, 4:41 PM
Quaestor said...: There's room for Howard in our sandwich. Titus gets the dirty end.; 4/18/18, 4:45 PM
Martha said...: Althouse is right—the N.Y. Times obituary agrees that Barbara could be offensive:

“Her candor occasionally got her into trouble. In 2005, while visiting victims of Hurricane Katrina at the Houston Astrodome, where they were being temporarily housed, she remarked that many of them “were underprivileged anyway” and that their Astrodome stay — though the living conditions there were dire — was “working very well for them.”

The comments, coming at a time when her son’s administration was being roundly criticized over its response to the storm, were widely heard as insensitive and condescending.”

I was in Houston as a Katrina refugee at the time and although I was not underprivileged or staying in the Houston Astrodome, I found Mrs. Bush’s Katrina comments to be quite insensitive.; 4/18/18, 5:00 PM
Rick said...: although I was not underprivileged or staying in the Houston Astrodome, I found Mrs. Bush’s Katrina comments to be quite insensitive.

The left's entire social and economic program is based on designating wide swathes of people underprivileged. On what basis can they rationally claim other people using their framework is "offensive"? Their entire program of white privilege is based on this but the left wingers attacking Bush can't seem to find a word to criticize.

It seems to me they do recognize the left's program is offensive (and wrong) but because they expect it to result in political advantage they withhold their judgement. Naturally they have no such reticence about attacking a non-leftist. In fact it looks like Bush adopted their language specifically to keep politics out of the Katrina issue but to the left making Katrina a political issue was the top priority.; 4/18/18, 5:24 PM
Quaestor said...: I was in Houston as a Katrina refugee at the time and although I was not underprivileged or staying in the Houston Astrodome, I found Mrs. Bush’s Katrina comments to be quite insensitive.

Civility bullshit has a corollary, sensitivity bullshit. This is an example of same. What matters more, BB's alleged insensitivity or Ray Nagin's criminal negligence?; 4/18/18, 6:39 PM
rcocean said...: Barbara Bush voted for Hillary in 2016.

You liberals can have her. Corpse and all.

And that goes with the entire Bush Family.; 4/18/18, 9:08 PM
Martha said...: I did not come across any Katrina evacuee housed in the Houston Astrodome who found the conditions there an improvement over his previous life in New Orleans. These flood victims had been uprooted from their homes. Most had lost all their material possessions. Some had lost family members.

Ray Nagin’s criminality obviously mattered more than Barbara Bush’s insensitivity BUT we were discussing BARBARA Bush and how offensive she was as a member of the ruling class. And Mrs. Bush was in my experience at times snobbish and offensive.

There! I said it.; 4/18/18, 9:28 PM
Ken B said...: The key word is hagiography; that's what T&L find irritating. Rightly so.; 4/18/18, 10:27 PM
Quaestor said...: Martha wrote: There! I said it.

Insensitivity is a bullshit crime concocted by bullshit purveyors.; 4/19/18, 4:23 AM
Rick said...: I did not come across any Katrina evacuee housed in the Houston Astrodome who found the conditions there an improvement over his previous life in New Orleans.

I'm not sure why this would matter since Bush's statement cannot be reasonably construed to have asserted this.; 4/19/18, 9:38 AM
lezlies said...: After the election Tom and Lorenzo declared that they would not be commenting on Melania's wardrobe because she is married to Trump.

I was going to browse their postings to see if they'd expressed similar discomfort after the death of other famous people. But, what's the point?

Bake the cake!; 4/19/18, 12:20 PM