August 1, 2019

Kirsten Gillibrand: "So the first thing that I'm going to do when I'm president is I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office."

From last night's debate, and I've got to think that was a scripted joke, because it was a response to an invitation to explain how the Green New Deal — "which includes the guarantee of a job with medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security for everyone in America" — is realistic

It seems as though she had a joke and had no compunction about sticking it in where it didn't belong:
So the first thing that I'm going to do when I'm president is I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office. The second thing I'm going to do is I will reengage on global climate change. And I will not only sign the Paris global climate accords, but I will lead a worldwide conversation about the urgency of this crisis.
Maybe that Clorox stuff is there to separate her answer from the question — which is about the realism of guaranteeing everyone medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security — not simply getting back to the Paris accord and having a conversation. I want to talk about the Clorox, but I've got to stop and say I'm so tired of hearing that what we need is "a conversation." It sounds like no solution at all and a way to delay. But "conversation about the urgency" is quite special — delaying by talking about how delay is not an option. And if dealing with climate change is all important, why is the Green New Deal cluttered with guarantees of medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security?

Gillibrand settles in to expatiate about climate change. Here's something that drives me nuts. There's always time to say the name of some specific individual in Iowa:
The greatest threat to humanity is global climate change. I visited a family in Iowa who -- water spewed into her home, Fran Parr, it tossed her refrigerator upend, all the furniture was broken, all the dishes were broken, and mud was everywhere. That is the impact of severe weather right now on families' lives.
So, this Fran Parr character, did she live on a flood plain? I notice that her house was a mess and admire the thematic unity of Gillibrand's little speech, which on first hearing felt like a mishmash. The theme is: a dirty house that needs cleaning up. But this answer is a jumble. I feel like it needs tidying up. There's the ludicrous phrase, "her home, Fran Parr." There's "upend" used as an adverb. There's the muddling of "climate" and "weather" and "water spew[ing]" (which I have to guess was a flood).

She devolves into all-purpose blather about doing things:
And so the truth is, we need a robust solution. When John F. Kennedy said I want to put a man on the moon in the next 10 years, not because it's easy, but because it's hard, he knew it was going to be a measure of our innovation, our success, our ability to galvanize worldwide competition. He wanted to have a space race with Russia. Why not have a green energy race with China? Why not have clean air and clean water for all Americans? Why not rebuild our infrastructure? Why not actually invest in the green jobs? That's what the Green New Deal is about. Not only will I pass it, but I will put a price on carbon to make market forces help us.
The question was how is it realistic to guarantee a job with medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security for everyone in America. That sounds like just imposing requirements — burdensome requirements — on private businesses, which is nothing like sending a man to the moon, where government itself performs the task. Gillibrand never addresses those requirements at all. She switches to "green energy" and clean air and water. She declares "That's what the Green New Deal is about" as if to exclude the very things that were the subject of the question — requiring private businesses to provide medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security.

With all that disorder — like broken dishes and furniture in a mud-splattered house in Iowa — let me get back to the Clorox. Clorox — do all listeners know? — is bleach. Do you clean with bleach? You can, but most people think of bleach as a whitener. We're so prodded to think of racism these days that I got sidetracked wondering whether the use of bleach will be regarded as racist. Will some people hear the white woman promising to whiten things up?

And when was bleach just in the news? Oh! Jussie Smollett!



In the staged attack, the meaningful liquid allegedly thrown was bleach.

And then there's BleachBit — the method Hillary Clinton used to thoroughly destroy her 33,000 emails.

I wouldn't have brought up bleach. And why would a woman candidate present herself in the metaphor of housecleaning? "I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office." Why would you need to Clorox the Oval Office? The question makes me think of Bill Clinton and his famous bodily fluids. Donald Trump is known for posh interiors, not dirtying a place up. Of course, it's metaphorical dirt — the person as filth. Isn't it morally wrong to talk about human beings as filth? Well, maybe not. I'm sure many Trump-haters routinely refer to him in scatological terms. But this is a presidential debate, and Gillibrand seems to be appealing to our desire for cleanliness. I guess you stimulate that desire by making people feel uneasy about excrement and germs.

Elsewhere in the debate, Gillibrand called herself "a white woman of privilege" who "can talk to those white women in the suburbs." You know those women, always worrying about tidiness and warding away infection with chemical sprays on household surfaces. She can "explain to them what white privilege actually is, that when their son is walking down a street with a bag of M&Ms in his pocket, wearing a hoodie, his whiteness is what protects him from not being shot."

Protects him from not being shot?

The mind of Kirsten Gillbrand is like a bag of M&M rattling around in the pocket of a hoodie.

159 comments:

Jake said...

“lead a worldwide conversation”

Sounds noisy.

zipity said...


I couldn't tell if I was watching a Democrat candidate debate or a Re-Elect Trump 2020 campaign commercial.

Help me out here. Which was it....?

henry said...

Clorox the oval office? to match her hair?

rehajm said...

The Clorox Company gets free air time.

rehajm said...

I just went to Bill Clinton, too. It’s probably been cleaned since then...

Kevin said...

The question was how is it realistic to guarantee a job with medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security for everyone in America. That sounds like just imposing requirements — burdensome requirements — on private businesses, which is nothing like sending a man to the moon, where government itself performs the task.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINTS!!!

MikeR said...

Remind me why I hate politicians. Everyone harps on how Donald Trump lies. But politicians never tell the truth.

rehajm said...

Hey, Mitch set up a vote the bring The Green New Deal to the floor. 43 Democrats voted ‘present’ yet no contempt for them at all.

We’re on to your tricks, honey.

Craig Howard said...

Gillibrand called herself "a white woman of privilege"

A white woman of privilege is a bad thing, isn't it? Seems rather like announcing, "I'm an alcoholic, vote for me."

tim in vermont said...

So if jobs are guaranteed, somebody should ask her if the are mandatory.

Kevin said...

So the first thing that I'm going to do when I'm president is I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office.

Then she’ll go through the entire place looking for wire hangers.

President Dearest.

pacwest said...

Is she running for cleaning lady at the White House? The Trump's are always looking for good domestic help.

Ann Althouse said...

"REPUBLICAN TALKING POINTS!!!"

That's my other topic I want to get to this morning. Thanks for prodding me!

henry said...

The question was how is it realistic to guarantee a job with medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security for everyone in America. That sounds like just imposing requirements — burdensome requirements — on private businesses, which is nothing like sending a man to the moon, where government itself performs the task.

-----

standard Dems signalling virtue by voting funds from my wallet*. Ivanka does it too with her latest paid family leave nonsense.

*yes I own a business in WI. I see lots of robots in my future.

David Begley said...

“The mind of Kirsten Gillbrand is like a bag of M&M rattling around in the pocket of a hoodie.”

Well done!

The Green New Deal guarantees a Trump win. Keep digging Dems!

rehajm said...

Must lead the conversation. As a leftie it’s gratifying to dictate terms to others. More than that...essential like air.

Howard said...

Bleach? Fenton chemistry is the way to go. Bleach disinfection chlorinated organic molecule vapor and liquid byproducts, many are carcinogens.

tim in vermont said...

Some people want to be president just to be somebody, I want to be president so I can give stuff away to voters so they will make me president. Embrace the mystery.

Fernandinande said...

Sailer has some excerpts of Gillibrand's ludicrous and dishonest race-baiting.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Clorox? Like with a cloth?

Anyway, Trayvon thought George Zimmerman was a soft target. His blackness didn't keep him from being shot while beating Zimmerman's head on a sidewalk.

Howard said...

I can't believe anyone watched that last night. But thanks for the bullet point memes.

tim in vermont said...

You can be some Clorox spray was used to clean up in the Oval Office before George W Bush took over. Why do they make jokes like that that invoke the Clintons. We haven’t even gotten to “With a cloth” or “BleachBit and hammers.”

Is she going to surrender to China on steel first thing?
Shut down fracking so that Putin can get his military back on his feat with the higher prices and reduced competition?

Don’t ask! This is about the Orange Man Bad approach, and I hate to admit it, but it might work. Thus endeth the Enlightenment.

David Begley said...

Fran Parr lives in Pacific Junction; south of Omaha. It was badly flooded but the proximate cause was not global warming.

What these Dems don’t tell people that there were an unusual set of events that caused the flooding; lots of rain at once and big snow up north.

The big Air Force base just south of Omaha was badly flooded. The water went over the levees.

Fernandinande said...

(Let's rip-off a fake Drudge headline)

World’s first ever human-monkey hybrid appears in Presidential debate.

Hagar said...

Chlorine is a very reactive element that kills bacteria.

Perhaps OT, but I question Owen's fears on the previous thread. "Big Pharma" is already pretty much dominated by multi-national firms, and I think they could very well adjust to a different marketing regime and enforce quality standards internationally, wherever their products are manufactured.

Our government is a different matter; making changes to a deeply rooted corrupt system of laws and regulations funded by enormous amounts of money spread among lobbyists and politicians for generations is not going to be easy.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

We can run our economy off of illegal entrants and then pay lazy Americans "free medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement."

That should work.

BarrySanders20 said...

The infinitive verb "To Clorox." What other household products get to be verbs?

to Windex the windows,.
to Cascade the dishwasher.
to Tide the laundry.
to Crest the mouth.
to Speed Stick the armpit.
to Tampax the vagina.

Iowan2 said...

Its a racist, Republican talking point

tim in vermont said...

Not to worry you guys, North Pole, NY is in Gillibrand’s old district. They have elves there working day and night to make all of this stuff the Democrats are going to give away.

And I bet Trump never asks her any tough questions either. It will be just like the Democrat debates, where touch questions can be shunted aside to everybody’s relief.

“If I ask how much her plan is going to cost, she might ask how much my plan will cost!”

Hunter said...

"retirement security"

Gee, it seems like there was already a government program that was supposed to give everyone retirement security. What ever happened to that?

Hagar said...

Note Michel K.'s comment that these people do not even begin to understand how the current system makes drugs so expensive.

I wish he would expand some on that, but recognize that it would be a lengthy and complicated exposition.

tim in vermont said...

We can run our economy off of illegal entrants and then pay lazy Americans "free medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement."

I think elves are more practical. They work for hot chocolate and cookies and sleep at the factory.

Lyle Smith said...

Doesn’t making Clorox contribute to climate change?

Gillibrand is taking all of AOC’s best ideas. She is serving as a kind of trial balloon for the Cadre.

tim in vermont said...

The first thing I am going to do as president is allow in millions of immigrants from all over the world so that they can abandon their current low carbon lifestyles, and enjoy the high carbon lifestyle America is famous for.

If we completely abandon border controls, it will only make it cheaper to give everybody free stuff, because these new immigrats will be software developers, engineers, skilled machinists, etc, etc, etc. Exactly the kind of people that our new economy is goign to need, since, well, we all know that the low skilled jobs done by current Americans are all going to be replace by automation.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paco Wové said...

Gotta give Matty props on this one:

"Gillibrand’s “I will get white children shot, too” platform may be a tough sell in the swing states."

[Link]

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I like how the link to the Hillary-Bleachbit media story is pro-Hillary and her use of bleach-bit to delete subpoenaed e-mails off her illegal private server was no biggie in the eyes of the hack press.

~ Gordon Pasha said...

BB in a box car is a closer analogy..

tim in vermont said...

Every Mexica farmer working with a donkey and a cart that we can turn into a 4WD F250 owner is good for the planet!

Or all of these people coming here fleeing low carbon lifestyles and empty promises from their governments?

Gillibrand is doing us a favor because the Cuban Americans and Venezuelan immigrants have all heard this shit before and know where it ends up.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Smolette gets away with his fake crime in the same way Hillary got away with setting up and using a private server while head of the STATE dept. So she could maximize her pay to play.
Mueller investigation was all about pay-back because a shit pile of pay to play state insiders didn't get their pay-off - because SHE-> lost.

hawkeyedjb said...

After we're finished bleaching the White House, let's wreck the industrial economy. That's how we guarantee good jobs, medical leave and vacations.

Well, you can be sure we'll have lots of vacations.

Michael K said...

Note Michel K.'s comment that these people do not even begin to understand how the current system makes drugs so expensive.

An interestuig skirmish in a sort of drug war.

Americans are spending an excessive amount on prescription drugs, the cost of which likely topped $330 billion in 2018. Amazon made its first steps into the space in 2018, when it acquired online pharmacy start-up called PillPack.

A year later, Amazon is engaged in a tense battle with one of the largest incumbents in the space. Surescripts is owned by a coalition of potential PillPack competitors, including CVS and ExpressScripts, and manages about 80% of all U.S. prescriptions. It is such a dominant force that in April, the Federal Trade Commission sued the company, alleging “illegal monopolization of e-prescription markets.”


Nobody hears about these wars for the market. We are getting calls every week from CVS trying to get us to go to mail prescriptions.

Comanche Voter said...

Here's a little tip for Fauxcahontas. "Republican talking points" is a synonym for harsh reality.

Fernandinande said...

So, this Fran Parr character, did she live on a flood plain?

The Parrs are politically active and want politicians to give them taxpayers' money:

Parr wants a buyout. A native of nearby Glenwood, he purchased the airy yellow farmhouse in 2008. Since then, he’s met and married Fran Parr, an engineer, and is co-raising two energetic boys.

Normally surrounded by corn and beans, “like a privacy fence,” the still-damp house now sits in a swamp.

By gutting the house, he’s preserving it as well as he can in case a buyout doesn't come.

He and his wife have welcomed three Democratic presidential candidates to their home since the ordeal started.

Unlike Parr, [Barnes is] cleaning up his property, hoping to rebuild and stay put.

Like nearly all of his neighbors, Barnes didn’t have flood insurance. But he received some grant money.

++

The Parrs and their twin 4-year-old sons live about three miles from the Missouri River. They did not have flood insurance and since they ** don’t live in the floodplain, flooding was “the last thing on [their] minds,” they said.
++

** So flood insurance would've been cheap, but they took their chances and lost and now they think they have the right to force other people to pay for the costs of their bad decision.

tim in vermont said...

For the Democrats, the economy is like a game of Jenga. Let’s see how many pieces of the incentive structure and industrial economy we can pull out without the tower collapsing.

Iowan2 said...

David Begley said...
Fran Parr lives in Pacific Junction; south of Omaha. It was badly flooded but the proximate cause was not global warming.


David, I'm off topic, but Pacific Junction gets its name from the fact that it is a clover leaf for crossing railroad tracks, which reminds me, the Big Boy Locomotive is heading that way for the weekend. I saw it come through here yesterday. Everyone should take the opportunity to see the worlds largest steam locomotive if you are nearby.

alanc709 said...

Isn't saying that she'd Clorox the White House a racist dog-whistle? Clorox is bleach, isn't it? Isn't she saying she'll make the White House whiter?

m stone said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...

When Jussie Smollett did his hoax, Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker were advocating their so-called "anti-lynching law". The law would give the Federal Government jurisdiction over any incident in which two or more people attacked another person for motives that seemed racist.

That's an interesting coincidence, that Smollett did this hoax when Harris and Booker were advocating that law.

tim in vermont said...

I should have read the whole thing first, so now my only comment is LOL.

tim in vermont said...

I have no problem with a generalized “anti-lynching law” because, like the mask and hood laws, it will most often be used against AntiFa. I think laws against organized political violence are fine.

Browndog said...

Mike Sylwester said...

That's an interesting coincidence, that Smollett did this hoax when Harris and Booker were advocating that law.


And it worked.

From The Hill.com:


The Senate on Thursday cleared legislation to make lynching a federal crime.

The bill, introduced by Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), makes lynching punishable as a hate crime.

Booker said that "lynching is not a relic of the past," pointing to the attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in Chicago.

tim in vermont said...

Groups of thugs like Antifa not only led to abominations like lynching and other intimidations as well as Jim Crow in the US, but put Mussolini in charge in Italy, Hitler in charge in Germany, and Bohta in charge in South Africa, and Chavez in charge in Venezuela.

Violent political intimidation is the whole point of lynching and if allowed to fester, has led to misery worldwide. If anything should be specifically outlawed, it’s political thuggery.

JPS said...

David Begley @7:40:

"What these Dems don’t tell people that there were an unusual set of events that caused the flooding; lots of rain at once and big snow up north."

And what caused that unusual set of events? Anthropogenic climate change, that's what!

If you argue with me you are clearly anti-science. Like the president. We had eight-years of a pro-science president but that's over now.

Mr. Forward said...

It would be a nice gesture if Trump hired Gillibrand to clean the office. She's going to be looking for a job.

dbp said...

I thought it was skittles with Trayvon, not M&Ms.

Anyway, the idea of KG, that "Why not have a green energy race with China?" reminds me of War Games. This is a strange game and the only way to win it is to not play.

tim in vermont said...

Of course there will be an AntiFa exception to any law which will mean that it will only be applied to protected groups. So if you are a white conservative who gets conked on the head with a bicycle lock, too bad for you. As we have seen, the guy skates and has his record expunged.

Infinite Monkeys said...

That sounds like just imposing requirements — burdensome requirements — on private businesses

That's how you win the clean energy race with China - all the manufacturing jobs go there.

tim in vermont said...

What incentive would China have in a “green energy race” anyway. They are content to steal our technology as soon as we product it. Nothing stunts technological progress like the inability to protect intellectual property.

Fernandinande said...

And then there's BleachBit — the method Hillary Clinton used to thoroughly destroy her 33,000 emails.

I love the Fake News about that; Trumps says the "process" is expensive and They immediately claim he said that the (free) software is expensive. (The process might consist of paying your computer guy for a few hours time since the heavy-duty delete function on BleachBit is pretty slow - slow enough that people get fed up waiting and restart their computer before BleachBit is done and now the computer won't boot.)

But he did sound dumb about "bleaching" the emails/files.

Wince said...

Kirsten Gillibrand: "So the first thing that I'm going to do when I'm president is I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office."
From last night's debate, and I've got to think that was a scripted joke...


Didn't Dennis Miller make a similar joke about Bill Clinton?

Only Miller was funnier because his joke made an obscure reference to Phisohex instead of Clorox.

"Breaking-out the Phisohex" is funnier than Clorox!

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“The mind of Kirsten Gillbrand is like a bag of M&M rattling around in the pocket of a hoodie.”

Is that original? Because it’s pretty great. Thank God you didn’t write “a bag of Skittles”, though. That plus hoodie would have been extremely triggering.

Wince said...

Or was it Seinfeld?

"Ten years ago, waking up in bed next to a woman like this would have sent me running for the pHisoHex."

pHisoHex is funny!

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Shit, while I’m noodling around with my phone keyboard some spry young fellows are beating me to the punch.

Ralph L said...

Why not have a green energy race with China?

Most of our solar panels and windmills will be manufactured in ... China!

Clorox the Oval Office and lock her in it.

Ryan said...

Trump is called racist for saying this:"Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place."

Isn't is hypocracy to make Clorox jokes?

Infinite Monkeys said...

I thought it was skittles with Trayvon, not M&Ms.

It was Skittles but, as AOC says, facts don't matter when you're morally right. They also don't seem to matter if you're morally wrong.

Amadeus 48 said...

Althouse--Your best line is your closer. Well done.

stevew said...

The mind of Kirsten Gillibrand is, as John Updike said in a short story: "You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)."

Chlorine bleach is an effective disinfectant, I suppose that's what she meant with her "joke", but it's an effective remedy for a number of other situations, many of which are problematic as the professor notes.

gilbar said...

it tossed her refrigerator upend

I don't know about you, but i LIKE my refrigerator to be 'upend'
If someone knocked it down onto its side, i'd be upset.

Known Unknown said...

You know who is shooting black kids in America?

Other black kids.

If any of these morons gave a shit about gun violence in this country they would seriously consider legalizing drugs.

0_0 said...

Bleach is mostly a biocide. The water treatment plants use truckloads of it to kill microbes in sewage. Then usually add sodium bisulfite to deactivate the sodium hypochlorite before discharging into water so fish aren't killed. The full strength stuff will ruin denim quickly, and will strip you to a skeleton.

So to me it is a cleaner, not whitener.

Hunter said...

Ryan said...
Trump is called racist for saying this: [...]

Isn't is hypocracy to make Clorox jokes?


It's consistent. When Gillibrand wants to clean up the Oval Office, it's because its resident (Trump) is disgusting and subhuman. The same way when Trump laments the state of Baltimore, he's obviously saying Baltimore's residents (black people) are disgusting and subhuman. It's right to call Trump disgusting and subhuman, obviously, while it's racist to say that about Baltimore residents.

Of course that wasn't Trump's point at all, and everyone knows it; but this is the internal logic, if you can call it that.

Earnest Prole said...

Wait, after four years of Trump political word salad is now bad?

Mike Sylwester said...

Trayvon Martin bought Skittles and Watermelon Fruitjuice Cocktail because he intended to mix them with Codeine into an intoxicating concoction called "Purple Drank".

Martin had drunk this concoction chronically for many weeks. One consequence of that habit is paranoia.

See my blog articles:

Trayvon Martin was paranoid because of Purple Drank

Trayvon Martin's paranoia made him belligerent

Trayvon Martin paid for Purple Drank by burglarizing

Trayvon Martin waited for darkness before casing homes to burglarize

robother said...

"I walked into the Oval Office and beheld Madame President on her hands and knees in a maid's outfit, scrubbing the floor with Clorox. You won't believe what happened next."

Bruce Hayden said...

Stupid woman. She is a Senator who apparently doesn’t know that the Senate would have to accept the Paris Accords for the US to be bound by them. And she believes in the Climate Change hoax. How do people this stupid get so close to power?

Shouting Thomas said...

Wait, after four years of Trump political word salad is now bad?

Wait a minute! How much more blunt, direct and truthful can you get than this?

"Cumming's District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place."

stevew said...

A random thought comes: Would a Democrat candidate be successful, i.e.; win the nomination, by reciting (acknowledging) a short list of the demonstrably good things that have happened and been accomplished during Trump's presidency so far, and then to list the things that need to be done that Trump & the Republicans either haven't done or are opposed to doing?

Clearly these candidates are answering with no.

Iowan2 said...

JPS said...
David Begley @7:40:

"What these Dems don’t tell people that there were an unusual set of events that caused the flooding; lots of rain at once and big snow up north."

And what caused that unusual set of events? Anthropogenic climate change, that's what!


Look at any map, and you will see the flood plain. That's the area of regular flooding. Dont look at the cities. Look away from them. From a wide view, you will see the paths of hiways. those paths follow rivers and streams, to the big rivers. The Missouri at Omaha, the Mississippi on the other side of Iowa. You will follow roads along the rivers, that will usually define the outer edge of the flood plain.
Those flood plains were established 100's of thousands of years ago. Flooding is a natural event. Flooding has always been a natural event.
To attempt to say that what has happened over the last 140 years is now different, ignores many millennia of history. The time line used to support the concept of catastrophic anthropegenic global climate change is by definition NON Science.

Beasts of England said...

'Most of our solar panels and windmills will be manufactured in ... China!'

Exactly, Ralph!! Don't anyone tell the Dems the negative environmental impact associated with manufacturing solar panels. They'll never be made here in industrial quantities.

Michael K said...

The time line used to support the concept of catastrophic anthropegenic global climate change is by definition NON Science.

But it is popular and even infests sailing groups on Facebook.

Rick said...

Booker said that "lynching is not a relic of the past," pointing to the attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in Chicago.

Similarly Sabrina Erdely's rape hoax at UVA article was dropped just as Gillibrand and other extremists were trying to change rape laws to mimic Title IX inquisitions on campus. Being an ally means finding a way to contribute whether it be by making up the hoax, by reporting it, or by breathlessly citing it as if it could possibly be true.

JPS said...

Iowan2, 8:53:

Well put. But when I'm president, I will eliminate the null hypothesis.

wendybar said...

There's a photo collage of Gillibrand posing with Weinstein, and Bill Clinton. Maybe we should "Clorox" HER!!!

Caligula said...

Clorox (chlorine bleach, a solution of sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl) is, even when diluted, a pretty good disinfectant.

Then again, like many chemicals that are actually effective at doing something, it is far from environmentally friendly.

So, my guess is that her intended metaphor was "disinfectant": she's gonna wash that Trump-smell outta the White House. And she probably doesn't realize that the stuff is not environmentally friendly.

Although if you have to explain the metaphor (or the joke) it's probably not a very good metaphor.

Rory said...

She ought to Clorox Mattress Girl's butt.

JPS said...

Iowan2, PS:

"The time line used to support the concept of catastrophic anthropogenic global climate change is by definition NON Science."

Seriously, this is what makes me crazy about some of the alarmists: Pointing to any attention-getting weather event, saying "You see?!" and then having the gall to accuse anyone who questions them of being anti-science.

If you weed out the confirmation bias and the Texas Sharpshooter's Fallacy you're left with a subtler set of scientific and policy arguments, which is the last thing some of these folks want. Much more reassuring to keep it on the level of good guys and bad guys.

NCMoss said...

I think Gillibrand is onto something with these product placement royalties; kind of like the Truman Show.

Francisco D said...

Sorry to be off topic, but I am amazed at the Jussie Smollett tape. He was so calm and casual after that racist attack.

He is not much of an actor is he?

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

Nice line about the mind of Kirsten Gillibrand!

Now if it were one M&M rattling around in the pocket of a hoodie it would be more accurate, but then it wouldn't rattle.

It would roll more than rattle, I guess. Perhaps shake too.

MayBee said...

I have to say I'm bemused at how horribly they talk about the current president. Anyone who wants to pretend Trump is a crass outlier anymore is lying to themselves. They are all the same in that regard.

MayBee said...

To me when she says she'd Clorox the Oval Office I just think of the damage it will do to the fabric. Is Obama's "Arc of History" rug still in there?

Francisco D said...

Flooding is a natural event. Flooding has always been a natural event.

We get significant flooding several times every summer in Tucson thanks to the monsoons. However, there are no catastrophes. Most streets and houses are built to a specific code that manages the water flow.

It's not rocket science and it's not Climate Change.

Gabriel said...

@David Begley:The big Air Force base just south of Omaha was badly flooded. The water went over the levees.

A place that has levees, is a place that expects to get big floods from time to time.

I live in a place that floods nearly every spring, and there aren't any levees. I live above the 500-year flood line. Which is to say my house has a less than 0.2% chance of flooding in any given year. Which means that over the course of my 30-year mortgage I have less than a 5% chance of flooding.

Annual premium is $534. That's more than 0.2% of the value of my house; flood insurance is on the edge of being worth it for me.

NCMoss said...

If Gillibrand would have used shampoo as a metaphor instead of bleach she could have broken into song like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odcCzb-h3Fo

Iowan2 said...

Stereotyping females as cleaning women.

And her, a woman!

MayBee said...

Surely people who use the term "Global Climate Change" realize how dopey it sounds, right?

Ralph L said...

Make Egypt Great Again!

Darkisland said...

Blogger AAT said...

What incentive would China have in a “green energy race” anyway. They are content to steal our technology as soon as we product it.

I am guessing that you mean "Produce" there, not product and it was a typo. I don't believe I've ever seen product used as a verb before.

However, I think it is a wonderful usage and I am going to steal it.

Many inventions and technologies are wonderful. Think penicillin, insulin, the steam engine, the automobile, the integrated circuit

But they are nothing more than curiosities until someone "products" them in the sense of making them useful, figuring out how to manufacture them at a feasible cost and actually get them into the hands of consumers.

I have an idea for an article and I am stealing your usage.

Tentative working title "Nothing happens until somebody products something" I doubt that this will be the final title, I am sure I can come up with something more original

It is a play on Red Motley's "Nothing happens until somebody sells something" speech which I have always found inspiring. Part 1 here

Thank you AAT.

John Henry

Darkisland said...
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Darkisland said...
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Lincolntf said...

The " Anti-Climate Change" fanatics should re-brand themselves as "Pro-Climate Stagnation" fanatics. Either way they look like fools, but the latter is a more honest approach.

Darkisland said...

Link here

It is a play on Red Motley's "Nothing happens until somebody sells something" speech which I have always found inspiring. Part 1 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OIoA_NC0Vo"

Sorry, I tried and can't get the Href code to work.

John Henry

Darkisland said...
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Darkisland said...
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TrespassersW said...

What kind of dressing does one get with that word salad?

Darkisland said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sebastian said...

"I'm so tired of hearing that what we need is "a conversation." It sounds like no solution at all and a way to delay."

As always, I appreciate Althouse's sentiment, and as always, it is beside the point: "a conversation" is not "no solution" and it is not "a way to delay," it is just another tool to make the prog poison go down nice and easy. As in, "a conversation about race" is lecturing whites about their evil oppression and privilege. And so on and so forth.

Scott Patton said...

"I'm so tired of hearing that what we need is "a conversation.""
When talking about climate change, Tens of thousands (100's of 1000's ?) of people get paid very well to have "conversations" in pleasant, climate controlled, catered venues. Not to mention their assistants, adjuncts, drivers, tech support and nannies (ok, I prob double dipped on that last one).
All of them raise money, some might say "kick back" and lobby and vote... exert influence and give jobs to relatives of people involved in completely different conversations.
Oh no! Am I on a rant against... Privilege!

MayBee said...

"it tossed her furniture upend"

Gillibrand obviously memorized some story then couldn't recall it. What a waste of a debate stage.
(ps. it makes me think of her friend Mattress Girl)

Lincolntf said...

How people falling for this "Climate Crisis" snake oil continue to not see the obvious is beyond me. While your "Green" heroes are consuming dozens of annual U.S. households worth of energy to pat themselves on the back and live in luxury for a weekend, they demand that you don't turn on your Air Conditioning or use plastic straws. Some people crave serfdom, and serfs need lords. The "Green" politicians are those lords, and they take full advantage of the serfs. Now go unplug your computer for a couple decades to offset Obama's seat on the plane.

stlcdr said...

They want to bleach any mention or discussion of 'how is that even going to work'?

With regards to the 'medical leave' and 'vacation' unless you make it criminal to not take leave, then you will just increase wage disparity (particularly between men and women). People earn based on experience for any given job. If you have more experience you will earn more. More experience comes from not taking time off from work.

Sebastian said...

"why is the Green New Deal cluttered with guarantees of medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security?"

Why, oh, why?

Detective Althouse comes close to cracking the code of progressivism. Progress!

Big Mike said...

She can "explain to them what white privilege actually is, that when their son is walking down a street with a bag of M&Ms in his pocket, wearing a hoodie, his whiteness is what protects him from not being shot."


Is Gillibrand aware that Trayvon Martin might be alive today if only he hadn't jumped George Zimmerman? Probably not. She doesn't have enough IQ points. Spent too much time on her hands and knees bleaching floorboards.

Francisco D said...

What kind of dressing does one get with that word salad?

French, of course.

As in lots of tongue.

bagoh20 said...

So many ideas, so easily debunked, so much fantasy, so much stupidity - I can't believe these Dems would even get one vote, but they will get tens of millions of Americans to vote for them. Many of these voters will be highly educated with degrees, and many will not. The fact that they get all those American votes with such abject stupidity and dishonesty as bait is the single biggest problem and danger to the world today.

It sometimes makes me wish we were a tiny shit hole country unimportant to the world instead of the most powerful and important. We have been a beacon, and these people want to make an example out of us - an example to avoid. We already have many of those like Venezuela, but they don't seem to have any effect in informing so many of our people. How did we create so many impenetrable fools?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

The mind of Kirsten Gillbrand is like a bag of M&M rattling around in the pocket of a hoodie.

that's why she's called Kirsten Jellybrains

Dave Begley said...

iowan2

Planning to see UPRR's Big Boy tomorrow at the ballpark with a high school buddy.

Dave Begley said...

Iowan2 is exactly right about the facts and the geography of Pacific Junction. It is flat as a pancake from the Missouri River to that town.

John Hawks said...

May this post someday claim its rightful place as the apex of the Althouse form.

rcocean said...

Do or Do not. There is no "Conversation".

-Republican Yoda.

rcocean said...

Eric Garner garnered a lot of attention last night. Everyone was the families best friend. We must have spent at least 10 minutes on "The Garner Situation". The Democrats are going back to their old habit of being the Crooks biggest Pals. They'll legalize everything, let the crooks out of Jail, get rid of the death penalty, and give them all $$$, if they're good.

rcocean said...

The weirdest part of the debate is why De Blasio was given so much speaking time. He's at 1%. And from what I hear, he's not even popular in NYC. Yet, he spoke 5x as much as Yang.

Michael K said...

The Democrats are going back to their old habit of being the Crooks biggest Pals.

Oh yes. The attacks on Harris are an example.

gilbar said...

iowan2
i didn't even realize 4014 was out of the shop already!
i missed it in CR, will have to go to Boone tomorrow

TJM said...

I guess if Clintoon was still president, clorox plus an exorcism would be necessary

Seeing Red said...

So the first thing that I'm going to do when I'm president is I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office.

They want to get rid of Clorox/bleach.

Sam L. said...

SHE's gonna Clorox the Oval Office? That's why there's a cleaning staff. SHE's gonna PUT THEM OUT OF THEIR J0BS!!!1111!!!!!!!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Treyvon Martin case is the perfect example of how corrupt our leftwing media is, and how they did in fact spread wholesale lies about the case and vacuumed the truth out of reality.

rcocean said...

The Democrats Plan for solving Crime:

1. Let crooks out of Jail.
2. Stop putting crooks in Jail
3. Stop enforcing the Death Penalty
4. Pay crooks to not commit crime - up to $12000 a year.
5. Stop policeman from harassing black crooks
6. Legalize MJ - and other drugs
7. Open the borders to foreign crooks
8. Turn Jail into a school and rest camp.

rcocean said...

And above all:

9. Get rid of guns.

Martin said...

Well, yes, a white woman US Senator in 2019 is one of the few thousand most privileged people on the planet and certainly should be able to explain to the hoi polloi how it works.

StephenFearby said...

'[On] August 2015 Hillary Clinton was asked, "Did you wipe your email server?" and she evasively replied, "Like with a cloth or something?" A year later we found out that "cloth" was BleachBit, a software application that deletes information "so even God can't read it," as Congressman Trey Gowdy announced August 2016.

After you have smashed your BlackBerry, don't forget to wipe the fingerprints from your email server with this non-abrasive, soft microfiber Cloth or Something.

Thin, foldable size makes it easy to stash the Cloth or Something in burn bags.
6" x 6" size quickly wipes even the biggest email servers with thousands of emails.
Optionally autographed on the back by Andrew, creator of BleachBit.

Printed in the USA!

Guaranteed not to prove intent, or you will get a full refund paid when you are released from prison.'

"...Yes, this cloth is real, and you can really buy it...Don't wait for a subpoena: Order Now!"

https://www.bleachbit.org/cloth-or-something

Since Donald Trump is such a noted germaphobe, he probably morphs into Felix Unger when he's in the oval office and almost certainly use wipes like this to satisfy his uncontrollable lust for cleanliness.

Did you know that November 13th is Felix Unger day?

https://www.facebook.com/wpixarchives/videos/happy-felix-unger-day/1897625220481974/

0_0 said...

"Have a conversation" means "Let me tell you how you should be thinking".

Mike Sylwester said...

... walking down a street with a bag of M&Ms in his pocket, wearing a hoodie, his whiteness is what protects him from not being shot.

Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman, who subsequently was tried and acquitted.

Zimmerman was acquitted because the jury decided unanimously that he shot Martin in self-defense.

Ralph L said...

happy-felix-unger-day

Oh Happy, Happy Day, when this election is unger and over.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Baltimore's residents (rats) are rats.

DavidD said...

“ ‘He wanted to have a space race with Russia. Why not have a green energy race with China?’ ”

What motivation would China have to get into a green energy race with us?

How can we have a green energy race with China if they won’t show up? Ooh, guess it’s a bye then.

What a maroon.

bagoh20 said...

Whites are 10 times as likely to be the victim of violence by Blacks as the reverse. White privilege kinda has a high price. I'd be willing to trade what I get for what they get, and the ladies would appreciate me more.

narayanan said...

@ Darkisland - this could be hugely helpful framework for your writing project -
expand on these ideas at will -
_______________________________
For the New Intellectual
Galt’s Speech,
For the New Intellectual, 185ff
Pyramid of Ability
When you live in a rational society, where men are free to trade, you receive an incalculable bonus: the material value of your work is determined not only by your effort, but by the effort of the best productive minds who exist in the world around you.

When you work in a modern factory, you are paid, not only for your labor, but for all the productive genius which has made that factory possible: for the work of the industrialist who built it, for the work of the investor who saved the money to risk on the untried and the new, for the work of the engineer who designed the machines of which you are pushing the levers, for the work of the inventor who created the product which you spend your time on making, for the work of the scientist who discovered the laws that went into the making of that product, for the work of the philosopher who taught men how to think and whom you spend your time denouncing.

The machine, the frozen form of a living intelligence, is the power that expands the potential of your life by raising the productivity of your time. If you worked as a blacksmith in the mystics’ Middle Ages, the whole of your earning capacity would consist of an iron bar produced by your hands in days and days of effort. How many tons of rail do you produce per day if you work for Hank Rearden? Would you dare to claim that the size of your pay check was created solely by your physical labor and that those rails were the product of your muscles? The standard of living of that blacksmith is all that your muscles are worth; the rest is a gift from Hank Rearden.



In proportion to the mental energy he spent, the man who creates a new invention receives but a small percentage of his value in terms of material payment, no matter what fortune he makes, no matter what millions he earns. But the man who works as a janitor in the factory producing that invention, receives an enormous payment in proportion to the mental effort that his job requires of him. And the same is true of all men between, on all levels of ambition and ability. The man at the top of the intellectual pyramid contributes the most to all those below him, but gets nothing except his material payment, receiving no intellectual bonus from others to add to the value of his time. The man at the bottom who, left to himself, would starve in his hopeless ineptitude, contributes nothing to those above him, but receives the bonus of all of their brains. Such is the nature of the “competition” between the strong and the weak of the intellect. Such is the pattern of “exploitation” for which you have damned the strong.
__________________

bagoh20 said...

What is the point of wining the green energy race if your energy costs double and everybody gets the benefits that you pay for, if there even are any, which is a big IF.

Paul Zrimsek said...

And I will not only sign the Paris global climate accords

She might even get carried away and get the advice and consent of the Senate this time.

Yancey Ward said...

"Isn't she saying she'll make the White House whiter?"

Damn! I wish I had thought of that last night when I was parodying the debate! A missed opportunity.

tim in vermont said...

I listened to Biden’s response to Gellibrand on one issue, and I think Biden effectively kneecapped her, and I don’t think it was a prepared response. He pointed out that they had celebrated one of the very things that she was criticizing him on with him at Syracuse University. “The only thing that’s changed is you are running for president.”

Ouch.

Also, Gellibrand got her job as Senator through the Clinton machine. Appointed to take Hillary’s place. So “Clorox”? Really?

Tomcc said...

I have not made any effort to watch the debates. It's just too tedious- the unrelenting, non-nonsensical proclamations delivered with such passion and sincerity! It's the same reason I stopped watching "The Office".

tim in vermont said...

""White privilege" today is reserved for the rich elite with family histories.”

No, you can go into any trailer park and find kids dripping with it.

Bruce Hayden said...

... walking down a street with a bag of M&Ms in his pocket, wearing a hoodie, his whiteness is what protects him from not being shot.

Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman, who subsequently was tried and acquitted.

Zimmerman was acquitted because the jury decided unanimously that he shot Martin in self-defense.


Love it. Party of science and climate change constantly denies science when it is convenient. The joke at the Zimmerman trial was that the prosecution’s burden was to disprove self defense beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the defense proved it beyond a reasonable doubt. If it had been a civil trial, motion for sanctions, including attorneys’s fees, would have been in order. Forensics placed Martin on top of Zimmerman, astride, leaning over him when he was shot. Forensics showed that he had beat Zimmerman’s head into the concrete walk. Etc.

Remember “Hands up, don’t shoot”? Forensics showed Brown’s blood inside Wilson’s Tahoe. Only credible theory is that Brown was reaching into the Tahoe at the time, fighting for Wilson’s gun. Forensics also showed Brown later advancing on Wilson,Wilson shooting him, Brown again advancing, Wilson shooting him again as he retreated, Brown again advancing on Wilson, and being shot one more time. That all is fairly basic forensics, looking at blood splatter and spent shell casings. Science.

Darkisland said...

narayanan said...

@ Darkisland - this could be hugely helpful framework for your writing project -
expand on these ideas at will -
_______________________________
For the New Intellectual


Thanks, Narayanan,

That does give me some ideas. Most of my writing is for trade magazines and for specific clients blog/web content. I am always needing to come up with something new and, at least somewhat, unique.

Writing is easy. I can whack out a 1500 word draft in an hour or two. Once I know what to write about. Coming up with ideas is the hardest part of writing for me.

I am familiar with Galt's speech though in Atlas Shrugged. I'd not read The New Intellectual. Looks like some meat in there to get an article out of.

John Henry

Marcus Bressler said...

I thought the Clorox remark had to do with cleaning/sanitizing and not "whitening" because I don't look for racism in everything.

THEOLDMAN

It take only a tablespoon of bleach in a gallon of water to sanitize work surfaces. From Clorox's own website. So don't be using a lot.

Rick said...

I thought the Clorox remark had to do with cleaning/sanitizing and not "whitening" because I don't look for racism in everything.

Make them live up to their own rules.

StephenFearby said...

Jetsfix is a well-informed open discussion forum about the state of the long sad-sack NY Jets.

When the members aren't talking about football, they digress into other topics. Like last night's debate.

Best take (these guys take no prisoners)!

J. Smooth • 21 minutes ago
There’s only one candidate from the last two nights who I want to hear more from and I’m sure you can all guess who it is

tsjc68 J. Smooth • 18 minutes ago
i'm gonna smack you when you say Marianne Willamson's psychic energy

J. Smooth tsjc68 • 17 minutes ago
I love her so much

Brendan J. Smooth • 16 minutes ago
Wait, this is what you were referring to? I won't get mad because we're not in serious debate territory yet, but seriously, why are you the way you are?

J. Smooth Brendan • 12 minutes ago
We have a rare opportunity to elect a woman who may well nominate a Golden Retriever to a cabinet position


[Edited] thread from http://www.jetsfix.com/practice-recap-8-1-19/

StephenFearby said...

Possibly also making her Meade's favorite candidate.

Known Unknown said...

pHisoHex is funny!

pHisoHex is so Larry David.

I am in upstate New York this week and I went to a deli. Found some black and white cookies. Tempted, but I did not get one.

Sammy Finkelman said...

>> why would a woman candidate present herself in the metaphor of housecleaning? "I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office."

She's trying to make something out of being a woman. A not particularly sophisticated woman.

>> Why would you need to Clorox the Oval Office?

To get rid of any trace of Donald Trump. Of course a joke.


>> can "explain to them what white privilege actually is, that when their son is walking down a street with a bag of M&Ms in his pocket, wearing a hoodie, his whiteness is what protects him from not being shot."

A refernce to the alternate reality version of the Geoge Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, which both Ann Althouse and John Podhoretz did not catch.

john burger said...

This is why I read this blog. Ann has a wonderful way of breaking down language and pointing out absurdities. Well done, Professor.

I love this line, too: "The mind of Kirsten Gillbrand is like a bag of M&M rattling around in the pocket of a hoodie."

prdvetnam said...

Gillibrand needs to show how ashamed she really is of her white privilege, and drop out.

Ken Mitchell said...

Gillibrand sez: " And I will not only sign the Paris global climate accords"

No, she will NOT, because there ARE NO "Paris global climate accords". As far as the Senate is concerned, all there is is a PROPOSAL, which has not been ratified by the Senate. And until the Senate ratifies it, there's no accord to be signed.

DEEBEE said...

What she is really saying is that she will use bleach to make the Whit House “whiter” than the “white supremicist” currently there.
Sorry Ann I know you will loathe this, since it will take you 500 milliseconds to realize the satire, that Glenn forces you into.