To Weekly Standard's Bottum, Clinton remark about washing hands recalled Lady Macbeth
Echoing other media figures who have made comparisons of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to fictional characters, The Weekly Standard's Joseph Bottum wrote that recent comments by Clinton recalled Lady Macbeth, who in William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth orchestrates the murder of the King of Scotland so that her husband can become king.
In a February 11 post on The Weekly Standard blog the Campaign Standard, books and arts editor Joseph Bottum wrote that recent comments by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) recalled Lady Macbeth, a character from William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth orchestrates the murder of the King of Scotland so that her husband can become king. After the murder, she is overwrought with guilt and eventually kills herself.
Following is the full text of Bottum's February 11 post, titled "Lady Clinton":
In Sunday's 60 Minutes interview with the inestimable Katie Couric, Hillary Clinton explained one of the keys to staying healthy on the campaign trail: "Wash your hands all the time." It's probably not bad advice, but still, you'd think the echos [sic] would have stopped her saying it: Out, damned spot! out, I say! ... What, will these hands ne'er be clean? ... Here's the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!
In a 60 Minutes interview broadcast February 10 by CBS, Clinton said, "My two secrets to staying healthy: wash your hands all the time. And, if you can't, use Purell or one of the sanitizers." Clinton continued, "And the other is hot peppers. I eat a lot of hot peppers. I for some reason started doing that in 1992, and I swear by it."
Media figures have also made comparisons of Clinton to other fictional characters, including Nurse Mildred Ratched and Madame Defarge.
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Which is more in line with what I'd expect from a political comparison smear. Normally, it's Hitler, Mussolini, i.e. real figures from history.
Is the intention behind literary comparison to 'elevate the smear' above the tired, dead-horse fascism-invoking fringe?
"Look at me, I'm educated, cultured and sophisticated. I appreciate the finger things, that's why I'm invoking Shakespeare."
Give me a break.
I don't think he was being sarcastic. It is a pretty big coincidence that Shakespeare is the theme of the MMFA piece, and the Bottum is the name of the offender, and then Atheist makes the connection between Bottom=ass without knowing *A Midsummer Night's Dream.*
(If Atheist was being sarcastic, then I'm the ass.)
No matter how innocuous an action or statement appears on the surface it must have some nefarious reason behind it, calculated for political gain, because, after all, they are the Clintons.
She can't tear-up (crying is manipulative), she can't laugh (she "cackles"), she can't wash her hands (sign of plotting to kill), she can't talk about race (playing the "card"), she can't assert herself in the company of men (she's a "nutcracker"), she can't speak Spanish (imperfect pronunciation is an affront to Hispanics), she can't speak French (remember Kerry 2004 ?), she can't wear dark clothes (too masculine), she can't wear light/bright clothes (too feminine), she can't get expensive haircuts (too Edwards) ...
ATHEIST:
The "hand washing" was not an allusion to "plotting to kill" as much as a tremendously GUILTY CONSCIENCE, for all the evil and depraved things done in one's sordid past. You see, the "hand washing" is just the outer indication of an inner turmoil and torment. We know this, because Shakespeare clued us into this psychology with Lady Macbeth's obsession with the "spot" on HER hands ... analogous to her black soul.
This is indeed a great nexus between literature and politics, melded with pop psychology and your basic Rightwing SMEAR tactics.
A brilliant and enlightening effort from this WRITER ... wait a minute! Wasn't HITLER a writer? I know that the Son of Sam did some writing. The Marquis de Sade ... didn't he do some wordsmithing, as well? GOOD GOD, this guy must be a sadistic mass-murdering homicidal maniac! And if he washes his hands, he may also be a scheming murderer!
Ah well, all the clues are right there in the basic actions. Can't argue with THAT kind of "reasoning" ...
The "hand washing" was not an allusion to "plotting to kill" as much as a tremendously GUILTY CONSCIENCE, for all the evil and depraved things done in one's sordid past....
Ahhh, I see ! I got a C in English Lit.
Btw, do you happen to know the significance of the pickle dish in Ethan Frome ? Because this has been bugging me for 2 decades ! Mrs. Lord, my instructor, refused to tell me. She said good students figure things out for themselves, bad students ask questions. I called her a f*cking b*tch for that, as I recall. I think she was going to give me a D but my outburst scared her and she upped my grade.
A brilliant and enlightening effort from this WRITER ... wait a minute! Wasn't HITLER a writer?
ROFL !!
I think it it symbolized their marriage. The pickle dish was empty, like their marriage. Then broken. Or something like that?
Well, I'm an English person, and your teacher is one of those people who ruins English for everyone. They know a little bit, and they like to lord it over everyone else, and they like to make literature obtuse because they don't f**ing understand it.
A symbol can't really be explained literally, which is why it is a symbol (just like you can't explain your own personal feelings of love). But your English teacher should have tried to explain it that way, and certainly, she shouldn't given you a 0 on the quiz. Since a symbol is figurative, one's interpretation can't be right or wrong. Uhg! I hate limited, narrow pedants.
Yes, English professors can be just as bad as high school teachers. On the one hand, the professor is more open minded, but on the other hand they are professional critics, which means they engage in a field that seems designed to show contempt and destroy literature. "The multiplicity of Shakespeare's washing imagery in *Macbeth* reflects a world view of purity through blood, just as Catholics see the washing of blood as a vehicle for redemption." (I just made that bullsh*t [stupid profanity filter] up. If I were a real critic, the sentence would be even more vague and make even less sense.)
This is what Atheist said: "I read all of the books for the course and I enjoyed them." What more should we really demand of students?
I feel better. Thank you.
I came to the conclusion [and I know I'm not alone here] that no matter what Hillary says or does, some idiot in the media will twist it into something nefarious, embarrassing or just plain foolish.
This example is just plain dumb. I can't imagine how Bottum went from Hillary washing her hands in her attempt to remain in good health on the campaign trail to Lady Macbeth, but my respect & admiration has grown for Hillary watching her remain strong, calm & restrained through the unbelievable abuse she takes from these folks.
Excellent point Tom. You're right most of the criticism, attacks or slurs against Hillary center on things like her laugh, her looks, her voice, Bill, her alleged b#tchiness. Very little ever seems to be about her views on policy/issues.
If Hillary doesn't win the nomination I think it's fair to say the media helped defeat her by poisoning public opinion with the constant bashing.
I am thinking about voting for Hillary in the Texas primary. I haven't made up my mind quite yet. I like Obama as well. But isn't it interesting that Texas and Ohio are going to actually be (maybe) important. I figured by the time the voting got here, the thing would have been decided. But now that I know Hillary washes her hands a lot, well....that just clinches it for me. ;-0)
If Hillary doesn't win the nomination I think it's fair to say the media helped defeat her by poisoning public opinion with the constant bashing.
Yes, including the opinion of the Hillary-hating Dems, who parrot the MSM bashing.
This reminds me of the demonization of the overweight and obese.
I don't agree. Hillary is way too smart, she knew that when she decided to run for president she would be facing these attacks form every which way, from the rightwingers who have been doing it for years, and the rest of the media who would be relentless in their going after her. What she didn't count on was the phenom known as Obama. She wasn't prepared for his popularity or the influence he would have on many who had never even heard of him.
When he won a couple primaries, she panicked and went negative, that is on her and her campaign, it backfired on her and she knew it wasn't working, in fact it was working against her. So she toned it down and is now pretty worried she will be denied what she thought would easily be hers.
I have always admired her toughness, and still do. But she is nobody's victim, despite the often unfair press she is getting. She knew that would come all along, just not in the primaries.
Your post is a vertiable diarrhea of misstatements.
I don't any person, even Bill Clinton, could have foreseen the inane yet vicious attacks that have been launched against Hillary, and at the same time the (unwarranted) deification of Obama.
You write as though Hillary is getting tromped. Look at the delegate counts. She might be behind, but not by much. She's doing much better than Edwards, who without Clinton in the race probably would have been a more viable candidate. Not everyone adores Obama, you know.
You failed to address any of the "diarhhea" misstatements of mine, yet you launched into your typical assault, and labeled Hillary the poor victim. Sorry, that is your opinion.
The way she went negative is her own fault, if you can't own up to your candidate's missteps, don't look to blame someone else.
"I don't any person, even Bill Clinton, could have foreseen the inane yet vicious attacks that have been launched against Hillary, and at the same time the (unwarranted) deification of Obama." -Atheist
Really? Because I think they knew exactly what was coming. It's basically a rehash of the Clinton Years. Yeah, they have thrown in a few new words, "cackle" and "Billary," but she has been taking attacks from all sides since she was first lady of Arkansas. Remember the ankles?
Hillary often talks about she is more formidable candidate for the Democrats in the fall because she has had it all done to her, she has been fighting arrows flung at her for years, and she is right on that.
And yet there are her supporters that act all surprised, shocked and outraged at how unfair the whole process has been against her.
Well, either she is prepared for it, or she isn't.
Tommy - "But she is nobody's victim, despite the often unfair press she is getting."
So she's not a victim of the unfair press because she knew it was coming? She's still a victim. To her credit she's a courageous victim.
Tom Oakie Joad wrat:
>>Its funny Jeter, because pretty much all of the abuse she takes lacks substance. I mean if I was always reading arguments against her support for the Iraq War, it would feel far more legitimate in terms of criticism. This 'we just don't like her line' is completely unfair.
Yes, that is exactly how I feel. I don't particularly like her politics, but the press's treatement of her as made me want to vote for her.
I am with you, i you have to respect the lady given the nonsense she has to put up with. but given the last round of primaries, i think the nonsense might be working.
"It is a tale, told by an idiot. Full of sound and fury; signifying nothing."
Oh, well done!
Romans 1:22: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
Quoting Shakespeare? Probably while drinking a latte!!!! This "journalist" is clearly not a real manly man conservative, he is obviously a commie socialist liberal plant. Everyone knows that Real Americans don't know squat about no d**n English Literature from some high falutin Marxist failure in Europe somewhere. All a good citizen needs to know is The Good Book and the TV Guide.
Hey man, don't blame me, it's what the media has taught me about what Joe Citizen is supposed to be like.