Ahh, Peggy . . .

Tell us what you really think:

We will hear a lot of tasteful tributes this weekend to Hillary Clinton's grit and fortitude. The Washington-based media may go a little over the top, but only out of relief. They know her well and recoil at what she stands for. They also know they don't like her, so to balance it out they'll gush.

But this I believe is the truth: America dodged a bullet. That was the other meaning of the culminating events of this week.

Mrs. Clinton would have been a disaster as president. Mr. Obama may prove a disaster, and John McCain may, but she would be. Mr. Obama may lie, and Mr. McCain may lie, but she would lie. And she would have brought the whole rattling caravan of Clintonism with her—the scandal-making that is compulsive, the drama that is unending, the sheer, daily madness that is her, and him.

We have been spared this. Those who did it deserve to be thanked. May I rise in a toast to the Democratic Party.

Peggy Noonan.

Sex and the Sissy

Today the indispensable Peggy Noonan says something that needs to be said about Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. First, she sketches the careers of Golda Meir, Indira Ghandi, and Margaret Thatcher. She summarizes:

Great women, all different, but great in terms of size, of impact on the world and of struggles overcome. Struggle was not something they read about in a book. They did not use guilt to win election -- it comes up zero if you Google "Thatcher" and "You're just picking on me because I'm a woman." Instead they used the appeals men used: stronger leadership, better ideas, a superior philosophy.

You know where I'm going, for you know where she went. Hillary Clinton complained again this week that sexism has been a major dynamic in her unsuccessful bid for political dominance. She is quoted by the Washington Post's Lois Romano decrying the "sexist" treatment she received during the campaign, and the "incredible vitriol that has been engendered" by those who are "nothing but misogynists." The New York Times reported she told sympathetic bloggers in a conference call that she is saddened by the "mean-spiritedness and terrible insults" that have been thrown "at you, for supporting me, and at women in general."

Ms. Noonan observes that it is insulting, it is manipulative, it is not true, and:

It is prissy. Mrs. Clinton's supporters are now complaining about the Hillary nutcrackers sold at every airport shop. Boo hoo. If Golda Meir, a woman of not only proclaimed but actual toughness, heard about Golda nutcrackers, she would have bought them by the case and given them away as party favors.

It is sissy. It is blame-gaming, whining, a way of not taking responsibility, of not seeing your flaws and addressing them. You want to say "Girl, butch up, you are playing in the leagues, they get bruised in the leagues, they break each other's bones, they like to hit you low and hear the crack, it's like that for the boys and for the girls."

She concludes:

Meir and Gandhi and Mrs. Thatcher suffered through the political downside of their sex and made the most of the upside. Fair enough. As for this week's Clinton complaints, I imagine Mrs. Thatcher would bop her on the head with her purse. Mrs. Gandhi would say "That is no way to play it." Mrs. Meir? "They said I was the only woman in the cabinet and the only one with -- well, you know. I loved it."

Read the whole thing.

Everything You Need To Know

As we prepare for more balloting somewhere or other tomorrow, here's everything you need to know about the race for the Democratic presidential nomination (in 7 minutes):

You Think?

Professor Althouse observes:

Hillary Clinton isn't your classic feminist heroine, fighting to make it in a man's world. She's a woman who leveraged herself into position in a very old-fashioned way, through a man, even when her use of that man required her to fend off other women and turn a blind eye toward sexual harassment. If you don't put that in the picture, your explication of the problem lacks credibility. Hillary has done what was expedient, and crying sexism now just happens to be expedient. Yes, we will have to study her case forever in trying to understand feminism . . . .

You Go, Girl!

Hilly! Hilly! She's our girl! If she can't do it, we'll all hurl!

“Small town folk like us,” said Sen. Clinton, “don’t cling to God or guns because we’re bitter about the economy, as my opponent suggests. We believe in God because he’s real, and we keep and bear arms as the best insurance against tyrants who would strip our freedoms if they didn’t fear our collective power.”

More HERE.

One Out of Three

Uninsured woman
Refused treatment
Dies

Hilly's batting .333, according to the New York Times.

From Ad . . .

. . . to worse:

Yuval Levin at NRO observes:

Apparently someone has called at 3 o’clock in the morning to inform the chief executive that “home foreclosures are mounting.” Given John McCain’s famous temper, it seems to me he’d certainly be well prepared to provide the appropriate response to such a ridiculous phone call at such a ridiculous hour.

Wasn’t the whole point of the 3am ad to raise the question of foreign policy readiness, rather than simply to suggest that it’s time for a light sleeper in the White House?

About That Wee-Hours Phone Call

I Have Seen the Future . . . .

. . . and it is not much fun. Peggy Noonan:

What the Democrats lost this week was the chance to paint the '08 campaign as a brilliant Napoleonic twinning of strategy and tactics that left history awed. What they have instead is a ticket to Verdun. Trench warfare, and the daily, wearying life of the soldier under siege. The mud, the cold, the dank water rotting the boots, all of it punctuated by mad cries of "Over the top," bayonets fixed.

[snip]

What do I think is the biggest reason Mrs. Clinton came back? She kept her own spirits up to the point of denial and worked it, hard, every day. She is hardy, resilient, tough. She is a train on a track, an Iron Horse. But we must not become carried away with generosity. The very qualities that impress us are the qualities that will make her a painful president. She does not care what you think, she will have what she wants, she will not do the feints, pivots and backoffs that presidents must. She is neither nimble nor agile, and she knows best. She will wear a great nation down.

And Then Mrs. Clinton Shaved My Head

I Dream of Barack:

I was back in College. Barack was a professor. It was Thanksgiving weekend, and Barack was organizing an Orphan's Thanksgiving for all of us who had no where else to go. It became a really huge production. People were abandoning their plans with their families in order to go to Barack's house. I was put in charge of writing thank-you notes and baking the pies (I had explained to Barack how my family always made key lime pie for Thanksgiving). Over dinner, Barack described Illyrian architecture. When I woke, I wondered, Is there such a thing as Illyrian architecture?

It was very strange. Usually I just dream about my teeth falling out.

I Dream of Hillary:

Hillary was at my house, although it didn't look like anywhere I have actually lived. I had her rest on the couch, and her hair turned white like Bill's! I went off to look for my honeymoon photos to show her, and my husband was telling me where they were, except it wasn't my present husband -- it was the voice and body of my first husband. EWW.

Go surf for yourself. There's ever so much more.

If there is sufficient popular demand, we will initiate a web site to which you may submit your dreams of the Gentleman Farmer. Illustrated, if possible. Moving pictures will be accepted.

Angry White Men

Aspen Times columnist Gary Hubbell has sent ripples through the collective consciousness with his February 9 piece:

Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.

There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.

His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.

The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.

[snip]

The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.

His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.

[snip]

Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”

He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.

After reading the whole thing, you might pass the time by googling the article and surfing the varied responses.

H/T to Uncle Michael.

Bill (Apparently) Had A Dream As Well

How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?

From the indispensable Charles Krauthammer:

Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... It took a president to get it done. — Hillary Clinton, Jan. 7

So she said. And then a fight broke out. That remarkable eruption of racial sensitivities and racial charges lacked coherence, however, because the public argument was about history rather than what was truly offensive — the implied analogy to today.

[SNIP]

Forty years ago, that arrangement — white president enacting African-American dreams — was necessary because discrimination denied blacks their own autonomous political options. Today, that arrangement — white liberals acting as tribune for blacks in return for their political loyalty — is a demeaning anachronism. That's what the fury at Hillary was all about, although no one was willing to say so explicitly.

The King-Johnson analogy is dead because the times are radically different. Today an African-American can be in a position to wield the emancipation pen — and everything else that goes along with the presidency: from making foreign policy to renting out the Lincoln Bedroom (if one is so inclined). Why should African-American dreams still have to go through white liberals?

Mr. Hitchens Little Kittens

"Indifferent to truth, willing to use police-state tactics and vulgar libels against inconvenient witnesses, hopeless on health care, and flippant and fast and loose with national security . . . ."

Christopher Hitchens reminds us once again that we are ever so glad that he does not know our name, nor otherwise take the slightest interest in us. Don't miss: "The Case Against Hillary Clinton -- Why on earth would we choose to put the Clinton family drama at the center of our politics again?"



[UPDATE - 12:30 p.m.] We are aghast at the cultural ignorance of many of our readers. Who attacks with more ferocity than Mr. Hitchens? This quality put us in mind of the psychotic mink constituting Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons. Good God. What are we to do with you people?

Indeed

Drop a Frackin' HOUSE on Her!

It appears that Obama and Hilly will finish neck and neck. Mr. Green opines:

And Hillary is ahead of Obama? By four points? I’m telling you, you’ve got to run a steak through the heart, separate the head from the body, burn the remains and scatter the ashes in heavy winds if you want to put a Clinton down for good.

And, just for the record, I think he means a "steak."

Every Wonder What Happened to . . . .

Socks? You remember: Hillary Clinton's cat? Well, so does The Sunday Times (the real one, you twit). Our favorite line:

"In the annals of human evil, off-loading a pet is nowhere near the top of the list," writes Caitlin Flanagan in the current issue of The Atlantic magazine. "But neither is it dead last, and it is especially galling when said pet has been deployed for years as an all-purpose character reference."

Oxy-Clinton -- Approved for Symptomatic Relief From Hillary Ambivalence Syndrome

Hat Tip to Uncle Michael.

The Few, The Proud . . .

Did Hillary Clinton really attempt to join the Marines in 1975?

She says she did. Much more (including links and updates) HERE.

Fight! Fight!

Here's the original which, if I am not mistaken, first ran during the Super Bowl:

Famously, IBM urged its employees to "THINK!"