Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Forays into US Culture: Hillary Clinton, "It Takes a Pillage to Raze a Child..."

Sorry to stereotype but... I lump together women like Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright, Dianne Feinstein and that ilk of politician as doing enormous psychic damage to reg'lar women.
IMO, these 'gals' have more in common with White Man Culture than they do with any flavor of woman culture; indeed, if anything, they act as if they must Out-White-Guy the White Guys to be anything/anyone. Evolving and growing into a universally empathetic woman is like ... being a pussy! And who needs that?

Insights
Madeline Albright
60 Minutes anchor Lesley Stahl, interviewing then U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, said, "We have heard that a half a million children have died [because of sanctions against Iraq]. I mean that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And - you know, is the price worth it?"
MA: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price -- we think the price is worth it."
[Editorial comment 1: first, these days, not a single mainstream reporter would ask Lesley Stahl's too-direct question: it gives a momentary discomfort to a public figure and, put simply, that is not allowed.
Editorial comment 2: Few reporters know much about history; few know much about, or want to critique, the US dropping the bomb on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki...and, of those that do, how they 'position' questions about this history is paramount; I would not be surprised to learn that Stahl's boss remarked on the starkness of her statement about Hiroshima - her "lack of 'sensitivity' or some such...
Editorial comment 3: who, you may wonder, is MA speaking for when she uses the universal "we"? She's speaking for people like herself, the class that she represents, and her sponsors. Think of her "we" as more of a "wheeee!"]

HRC
"On primary election day 2008 in Pennsylvania, Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stated that, if elected president, she would respond to a nuclear attack by Iran (a country that does not have nuclear weapons) on Israel (which does) with a promise to "totally obliterate them," ("them" includes Iranian civilians). [Long Time Passing, p 236.]
[Editorial comment 1: Indeed, it takes a pillage to raze a child....]
"As a candidate for President, HC...stated in a stump speech in March 2008, "We have given [Iraqis] the precious gift of freedom and it is up to them to decide how to use it." [Reporter Nir Rosen countered: "there's freedom to kill, there's freedom for militia." Long Time Passing, p 241.]
Editorial comment 2: translation from Hillary-ese: "I have been given the precious gift of freedom to insult the intelligent-but-powerless-because-not-rich with my BS and con the not-so-intelligent-flag-wavers with my take-no-prisoners-tough-itude."

Dianne Feinstein
Feinstein's husband, financier Richard Blum, controls Perini, a controversial company that scored big-time Iraq war money apparently due to Senator Dianne Feinstein's seat on the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. She steered a $650 million environmental cleanup deal to Perini. Blum also serves as a University of California Regent - and was chairman until 2009 - and is Chairman and President of Blum Capital, big in providing - and thriving on - student loans.

Visuals of Hirrily, "it takes a pillage" Clinton:
Inauguration of an Unprepossessing Bunch.
Don't Bill 'n Hirrily look like they just fell off a turnip truck?
[The Gores and Clintons on their arrival for the first inauguration. Jan. 17, 1993. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)]

An admirable effort to humanize the Clintons (but dehumanize muppets!)
[The Clintons pose with the cast of Avenue Q. Dec. 27, 2003. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)]
The Many Faces of Hirrily.
Prezidential, ain't she?
[Google search results collage]

I guess Hirrily has as much of a chance of being anointed the first female president as money and a corrupt worldview can buy.
There's a lot more to write about "this ilk of politician as doing enormous psychic damage to reg'lar women....[and] these 'gals' have more in common with White Man Culture than they do with any flavor of woman culture; indeed, if anything, they act as if they must Out-White Guy the White Guys to be anything/anyone."
I'm working on that piece of serious writing....


Check out other entries in the new series, Forays into US Culture
Foray into UC Culture: Rush on Robin
Foray into US Culture: Hillary Clinton, "It Takes a Pillage to Raze a Child..."
Forays into US Culture: Relax in a Hurry
Forays into US Culture: Downloadable Books...and Other Dystopias
Foray into US Culture: Manicured Faux

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