March 10, 2016

Camille Paglia, from her "perspective as a fervent supporter of the ruggedly honest and principled Bernie Sanders," likes Trump's "moxie" and "pragmatic real-life record."

She finds Trump "far more palatable national figure than Ted Cruz, whose unctuous, vainglorious professions of Christian piety don’t pass the smell test."  She proudly displays a visceral loathing of Cruz's face as "weirdly womanish... with its prim, tight smile and mawkishly appealing puppy-dog eyebrows... a waxen mask, always on the verge of melting." Trump, on the other hand, has "the urban flash and bling of a Frank Sinatra," except that he's better than Frank Sinatra because he's "a workaholic who doesn’t drink and who has an interesting penchant for sophisticated, strong-willed European women."

96 comments:

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Is Moxie a Nazi word too?

mikee said...

None of this matters, Hillary has the primary sewn up and the election already stolen. Even Meade, admitting she is the greater of two evils, is voting for her.

traditionalguy said...

Frank Sinatra also had a penchant for Ava Gardner. And that produced his best, saddest love songs. Let's hope Melania stays as loyal to The Donald as he is to her.

tim in vermont said...

If Paglia put 1/10th the effort into investigating the foundations of climate science that she has the gender roles of aboriginal shamans, she would recognize it for the BS that it is too. I don't expect that DJT cares about the issue enough to question what he reads in the NYT.

Mike Sylwester said...

Ted Cruz, whose unctuous, vainglorious professions of Christian piety don’t pass the smell test

"unctuous" = having a greasy feel

"doesn't pass the smell test" = Cuban-Americans have body odor

campy said...

mikee is 100% correct.

Bay Area Guy said...

Paglia's florid prose doesn't quite capture why folks are drawn to Trump and Bernie:

Trump and Bernie both oppose global trade deals that millions of workers believe have caused waves of forced unemployment in their fields.

In addition:

1. Bernie is also popular with under-employed young people who were encouraged to rack up tens of thousands in debt for worthless college degrees.

2. Trump is also popular with older workers who think unfettered illegal immigration depresses the wages of blue collar jobs.

Mike Sylwester said...

This article has four tags:

Donald Trump, Frank Sinatra, Paglia, Ted Cruz

How come only the woman is deprived of a first name?

David Begley said...

Paglia is so big she is just one name. Like Cher, Michael, etc. She's a star.

tim in vermont said...

You know what the people borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for degrees in sociology remind me of? People borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy houses that were twice as expensive as they were the year before on easy credit.

rehajm said...

We ain't selling jeans, Camille.

Rick said...

Wasn't it just yesterday it was inappropriate to criticize people's looks? Do we have a male exception or a Republican exception?

buwaya said...

I think his penchant is for pretty Slavic peasant girls.
None of his wives seem particularly "sophisticated".
None is a Rothschild, not are they doctors of philosophy or academic novelists.
And good for him.

Ann Althouse said...

""unctuous" = having a greasy feel"

Yeah, I noticed that too.

Meade said...

mikee said...
"None of this matters, Hillary has the primary sewn up and the election already stolen. Even Meade, admitting she is the greater of two evils, is voting for her."

I won't vote for Hillary or Trump. I'm a neither-evil voter.

Henry said...

Trump certainly has a real-life record.

Henry said...

It's kind of like Ms. Clinton's experience that I keep hearing about.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

I can remember back when noting that Barack Obama is skinny was racist.

Ann Althouse said...

"How come only the woman is deprived of a first name?"

Look through and compare the tags. I think over all, a 1-name tag is a sign of respect or, at least, my sense that one name works because of familiarity. I don't know why I didn't just call Sinatra Sinatra.

Ann Althouse said...

"Wasn't it just yesterday it was inappropriate to criticize people's looks? Do we have a male exception or a Republican exception?"

I wasn't quoting her description of Cruz's face with approval.

Ann Althouse said...

"None of his wives seem particularly "sophisticated"."

I know. I noticed that too. I get the feeling Europeanness just feels like sophistication to Paglia.

Quaestor said...

I won't vote for Hillary or Trump. I'm a neither-evil voter.

Write in Quaestor on November 1. I'm fully qualified and only occasionally evil.

Anonymous said...

An argument reduced to looks & honesty of faith is bankrupt.
Ted Cruz's true faith is to the Constitution. That's ignored by Paglia, as she has no answer.

Quaestor said...

I don't know why I didn't just call Sinatra Sinatra.

Well, there was Nancy Sinatra... best forgotten, I suppose.

One-name recognition is an honor, is it not?

Saint Croix said...

Paglia just likes chaos. Big fan of chaos. Ancient Rome? Not so bad! The banks are burning? Fun times! Bloody tampons in the streets? Woo-hoo!

She likes the lawless anarchy steeped-in-fascism that is Donald Trump. Big fan of mobs in general, I think.

I like to read her, she's awesome. But I'm voting for Rubio.

Gahrie said...

I can totally understand why a feminist would dismiss a man who has had only one wife, and that wife a successful executive in favor of a man who has married two models and an actress and who throws gratuitous and offensive insults at women on a regular basis.

Dave D said...

So, bHo has balanced, nice features in Paglia's opinion? And she has 100% faith in his religious (Jeremiah Wright-sprewed) views?

Dave D said...

"One-name recognition is an honor, is it not? "

Fabio?

Quaestor said...

Sophistication is not an unalloyed compliment.

Quaestor said...

Beyoncé?

madAsHell said...

professions of Christian piety don’t pass the smell test.

Mr. Cruz looks like he is constantly walking in a fart cloud.
Either that, or he's a blue meanie.

Chuck said...

Another great endorsement for Trump. Along with Roger Stone, Sarah Palin, Wayne Newton, Hulk Hogan, Mike Tyson and Dennis Rodman.

I think they all "get it."

Understanding Trump's endorsers, I think I get it.

buwaya said...

Add Mike Ditka.

walter said...

"interesting penchant for sophisticated, strong-willed European women."
Well..2 out of 3...maybe

Carter Wood said...

Paglia's muddled, multisyllabic iconoclasm eventually wore me down. I can't read her any more.

Titus said...

I agree with her on Cruz's face-it is hideous and un-electable in the main event. He has a waxen women face-and not in a good way.

Pubes are ok with it in a primary but that is because many of them look and speak like him.\

thanks

Fritz said...

Titus said...
I agree with her on Cruz's face-it is hideous and un-electable in the main event. He has a waxen women face-and not in a good way.


And I thought you weren't into faces.

Fabi said...

Looks like Chuck isn't quite as unhinged today. Maybe he's getting to the third stage of KĂĽbler-Ross. Don't move to the depression stage just yet, Chuckles -- you'll get to watch Little Marco perform his dancing monkey routine at the debate tonight. Good times!

walter said...

"This guy doesn’t know who the hell he is—and the White House is no place for him and us to find out."

T: I'm changing! Have to be FLEXIBLE

grimson said...

Sorry, but when looking at Cruz, I do not see how his face could be considered "womanish." (Paglia's elaboration did not clarify that, either). What does the word even mean?

I may not be able to detail what they mean, but I understand what is meant by "handsome" and "beautiful" and that a man's face can be beautiful and a woman be called handsome in a complimentary way.

To say a man has a womanish face in a disparaging way seems odd for a feminist.

mikee said...

Meade, I apologize. I misunderstood your comments to an earlier post, where a description of Trump as corrupt and dishonest, and Hillary as corrupt, dishonest, and traitorous, had you supporting Hillary over Trump for some reason or other.

I think it is great that you will vote for neither, and here I hope Cruz is the Repub nominee, giving you someone to vote for. Heh, heh, heh.

No, Hillary is gonna take the whole thing, God help us all.

traditionalguy said...

Paglia has an Italian Soul Power. It is so strong in her that only her last name beginning with a plosive Pa sound describes her. A Camille is a sweet flower sounding name.

In social groups, some people are always called by there last name. That sums them up. Like the fictional Major "Reacher."

The guy most in question lately has both a strong first name (that is actually a Scot last name) and a family added a marketing brand last name with the strong T sound and one easy to remember syllable.

Standard Oil Company of Wherever, needing to market itself better, became Exxon.

n.n said...

Paglia for Secretary of State?

She has an unusual ability to rise above the special and peculiar interests that informed her youthful perspective.

Big Mike said...

I read Paglia's Salon article. I'll agree that Bernie Sanders is "ruggedly honest and principled" as soon as he admits that he gravitated to socialism because he was unable to make an honest living with his hands or his brain. (No, I do not regard politics as an "honest" living, and won't until Hillary Clinton is on trial for her myriad felonies.)

Meanwhile she does a good job of enumerating the reasons why Trump would be a poor choice as a President of the United States. "Trump is far too impetuous and thin-skinned..." True that! We've had eight years of a President treating political give and take as a series of personal insults. Do we need four more?

And I agree that "unctuous" is just another way of saying "greaseball."

OTOH, I'm glad that Paglia came, however belatedly, to recognize that the GI Bill benefits are earned and not yet another case of government benefits run wild. Also that she recognizes how phony Lena Dunham is.

So Paglia is not a total dead loss. It's just that she's not the sharpest tack in the bulletin board when she doesn't stop to think before she writes.

Meade said...

@mikee, thanks.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Meade:

"I won't vote for Hillary or Trump. I'm a neither-evil voter."

Isolationist in 1941

"I won't support Hitler or Stalin. I'm a neither-evil fighter"

George Orwell

"Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, 'he that is not with me is against me'.”


Non-voting, Meade, is a vote for Hillary. You must own this!-- Heh.



n.n said...

buwaya said...

None of his wives seem particularly "sophisticated"... And good for him.

This is where his appeal originates. The People are looking for a representative of the people. Not the special and peculiar interests that inform and prejudice the elite classes. They want a reconciliation of rights and privileges. Not the class warfare favored by factions to the left, right, and center.

MAJMike said...

The approval cascade for Trump has begun.

Regarding Cruz: his Constitutional opinions mean more to me than his looks.

pm317 said...

Cruz looks like a lizard, is that what Pagoia meant?

bleh said...

I can't stand any of the front runners. Hillary is a corrupt opportunist, Trump is a populist demagogue and Cruz is a smarmy religio-nut. Yuck to all of them.

I like Sanders but his political beliefs are insane and I question whether can handle the stresses of office. Rubio seems very nice and he mostly says the right things but he comes off as earnest and over rehearsed. Kasich is probably the most capable and and experienced, and would govern in a very businesslike fashion. But he has a strange personality and comes off as not very bright sometimes.

It's a depressing cycle.

dustbunny said...

Rick the current rules re looks are: it is ok to critize or insult the appearance of white men. It is only ok to critize women if they are conservative. It is not fair to comment or even notice the clothing, hair, makeup, weight or age of Hillary. It is fine to joke about the same things when decorating the body of a Palin or Forina. These rules are subject to change.
Paglia has always cared about and been obsessed with appearance and costume, for her it isn't PC, it is aesthetics.

Laura said...

Why is the erudite lesbian voting on a man's looks?

If I'm in the market for maleness, it's a hammer swingin' contest. Oh and a man who doesn't make the paperwork so crazy I have to clip coupons and make my guns do double duty cooking bacon.

In other words, who's gonna cut the pork and give me some wiggle room in my budget, without pretending that a two-for-one special doesn't hide administrative markup?

Somebody still has to find money for seeds in a bad year at the commune, kibbutz, village . . . whatever you call it.

Woodstock ran on coal or oil power -- electric guitars, right? Peace out.

Freeman Hunt said...

Remember when Walker was a possibility? Those were the days.

Big Mike said...

@Freeman Hunt, yeah. I wonder whether Meade and Althouse could drop by Governor Walker's office on one of their evening strolls and persuade Scott Walker to un-suspend his campaign?

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

No trad Guy, Moxie is not a National Socialist word. It is a trademark when capitalized.

Moxie was ted William's favorite soft drink. It is, as I was told by the Moxie Co VP once, an acquired taste. This was when he gave me a tasting cup at a trade show.

A friend of mine once described it as tasting like kerosene with a licorice aftertaste. Based on my tasting, I think he nailed it.

Even so, at one time it outsold Coca-Cola in the US. Still available in Maine, New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts.

It is named after an 1870s US Army captain.

John Henry

Bob Loblaw said...

For a lesbian, Paglia sure knows what she likes in a man.

Drago said...

Fabi:"Looks like Chuck isn't quite as unhinged today. Maybe he's getting to the third stage of KĂĽbler-Ross. Don't move to the depression stage just yet, Chuckles -- you'll get to watch Little Marco perform his dancing monkey routine at the debate tonight. Good times!"

No, today chuck is in full blown attack Trump voters mode.

Naturally, as a "true blue conservative" good old chuck would absolutely love to offer up criticism of Hillary voters too but gee whiz, wouldn't you know it, he just cant do it 'cuz Trump.

Darn it.

Beldar said...

What an amazingly fact-free analysis!

Let me know when she votes in a GOP primary.

Meade said...

If Nov. 8 comes and the 2 party choices are Clinton or Trump, my neither-evil vote will go to TMAC.

And anyone who tries to shame me with "Hey, uh, but Meade, not voting for Trump only means we get Clinton" or
"How can you let Trump become president"
can just eat my cheese.

DavidD said...

Right.

'Cause we should always let Democrats pick our candidates.

campy said...

Even if Meade votes for the GOP nominee his ballot will probably be added to Hillary!'s total.

Bob Ellison said...

What is this strange thing called Trooper York?

Bob Ellison said...

Well, most congenial discussions eventually turn bad. This one might not last.

Extreme moderation for a while might fix it.

Bob Ellison said...

I told one of my sons yesterday that I would never vote for Trump. It seems like a Nixon thing. I don't want to have to admit that I voted for that guy.

Henry said...

If it's Trump vs. Clinton I vote for Clinton. That's a protest vote against Trump. For all of the nothing that is Clinton, the something that is Trump demands repudiation.

If it's Cruz or Rubio vs. Clinton I vote Gary Johnson. That's a protest vote against both parties.

If it's Casich I learn how to spell his name. I would like to vote for him, and if it was close in Massachusetts between him and Ms. Clinton I might vote for him, but it won't be close so no, I won't.

In short, for a social-liberal/fiscal-conservative/non-interventionist, the Democrats have moved so much further on social liberal issues in the last 20 years than the Republicans, that I can't, in good conscience, vote for candidate who run on conservative social issues or how promise military intervention. Cruz is out.

Frankly, my favorite candidate was Lincoln Chafee. I voted for him for Senator (R) and Governor (I). Despite being the presidential candidate (D) even more obscure than Bernie Sanders, he has his own unique take on the issues, as do I.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

..the ruggedly honest and principled Bernie Sanders...

Bernie's principles are mostly about what should be done with other people's money.

PB said...

If Bernie were "ruggedly honest" then he would admit to being a Communist and not hide behind the veil of "democratic socialism". Marxism, Socialism are mere stages on the way to communism.

Henry said...

who runs on conservative social issues or who promises military intervention.

Cripes.

dreams said...

Deal with this.

"Conservative favorite Ben Carson, who last week suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, plans to endorse Donald Trump on Friday morning, according to two people familiar with his thinking."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/03/10/ben-carson-plans-to-endorse-trump/

jr565 said...

Camille paglia goong after someone's looks. Seems very retrograde.

jg said...

I don't get going to the voting booth and voting for 'neither evil', besides being able to later say you didn't vote for whoever it was screwed up the country. Staying home, sure.

Paul said...

Bernie went to Nicaragua with the communist Sandinista and proclaimed food lines were great cause they made everyone equal. He is a flat dyed-in-the-woods COMMUNIST.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/28/when-bernie-sanders-thought-castro-and-the-sandinistas-could-teach-america-a-lesson.html?via=desktop&source=twitter

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

They're both more politically courageous, if not more honest, than anyone else in the race. Where's the surprise that people like Camille (and so many others) actually pick up on this?

Titus said...

I talk about all peeps faces and bodies-

Hilary is hideous and wears awful clothes and her body is unforgivable.

Doesn't negate the fact that Cruz has a women face and a horrible profile. Gut, chin, nose-he looks like a fat witch.

Also, Trump can win the general election and Cruz doesn't have a chance. Not only his appearance but his everything-he is just unlikable.

tits.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"It is up to him."

Quite indeed wrong, if it is to be it is up to me.

10 of the longest two letter words you will ever read, said W.B. the high school teacher using large-font letters to form the message above the chalk board.

Just as Trump defends America regardless of the cost, so shall Meade here.

Now I can't say All of My Love, but I can provide the URL and let you wander/wonder/winder.

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=all+of+my+love+led+zeppelin&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Meade said...

"I have ignored him and her for two years and would like to go back to that. It is up to him."

Jeez, what a drama queen.

traditionalguy said...

Titus nails it. Titus is the jewel of Althouse.

As for Trooper York, he is also an old timer that has a really great sense of humor. He runs a women's dress shop in Brooklyn and many good tales came out of that. But he got hostile and crosswise with LaAlthouse when she chose Meade as her favorite and got her man.

IMO Trooper has never forgiven Ann for Meade. So the blogs split apart and Trooper took some good commenters with him.

But we have Laslo who outshines them all. And we still have the amazing Titus. And we have Ann's brilliant son.

And thank God, we still have the smartest mind known to exist, named Ann Althouse.

Michael said...

Titus

Cruz owns wicked good cowboy boots and a rocking sterling belt buckle.

J. Farmer said...

Camille Paglia was a breath of fresh air during the 90s, and I was an early fan of hers. I still largely admire her writing talent, and I think she is probably a quite good art teacher. But Puglia's writings on politics have been pretty phoned in for more than a decade now. Can anyone minimally familiar with her work not predict what she will have to say on any given topic?

Sebastian said...

"They're both more politically courageous, if not more honest" Did you watch Trump's "press conference" after MS/MI? The one in which he tried to make Trump Steak etc. seem like things that actually existed?

Look, I hate PC as much as the next guy, and I do think DC could use a Trumpian broom (who know what he will do in fact), and I prefer Trump's con over Hillary's grim reality, but I also dislike a huckster lying to my face, especially if I am told he is "telling it like it is."

walter said...

Blogger traditionalguy said
IMO Trooper has never forgiven Ann for Meade.
--
Ya think?

dustbunny said...

Wow I'm sorry I missed the early days of this blog. Trooper is carrying a torch for Althouse? I used to think Meadhouse was operating as a sitcom but maybe it's a rom com.

Known Unknown said...

Frankly, my favorite candidate was Lincoln Chafee

Jesus. Lincoln's not even man enough to be a Beta male.

Unknown said...

Paglia perhaps also admires Putin for his manliness, moxie, martial artistry, pat-riotism, and accomplishments.

Douglas B. Levene said...

I love Paglia, and she may be right about Cruz (although she's ignoring his substantive policies which are pretty good) but she's dead wrong about little Donny, the film-flam man.

Rusty said...

traditionalguy said...
Titus nails it. Titus is the jewel of Althouse.

As for Trooper York, he is also an old timer that has a really great sense of humor. He runs a women's dress shop in Brooklyn and many good tales came out of that. But he got hostile and crosswise with LaAlthouse when she chose Meade as her favorite and got her man.

IMO Trooper has never forgiven Ann for Meade. So the blogs split apart and Trooper took some good commenters with him.

But we have Laslo who outshines them all. And we still have the amazing Titus. And we have Ann's brilliant son.

And thank God, we still have the smartest mind known to exist, named Ann Althouse.


OK. What do they have on you , tradguy? Where are you being held? You don't have to say anything. Just blink. Once for yes, twice for no.
Hang tight we'll get you out.

Robert Cook said...

"Trump and Bernie both oppose global trade deals that millions of workers believe have caused waves of forced unemployment in their fields."

It's not just their belief, but fact.

Ann Althouse said...

Trooper isn't responsible for the other blog. Lem is. Lem set it up and I linked to it and encouraged people to go there when they needed a place to talk after I was forced, by 3 particular trolls and a broken moderation function here, to close down comments. (After I got the function fixed, I reopened comments, and I moderate to delete these 3 trolls.)

Meade helped with the other blog, including making $ contributions to Lem and encouraging others to contribute. Meade comments there and, since there are some people there who are very hostile to me, defends me sometimes.

Trooper later became a front page contributor and he's pushing the idea that Meade isn't allowed to comment over there. He deletes Meade if Meade commments on one of his threads and now he comes over here to insult Meade because Meade comments there.

It's a big mistake to see Trooper as having started that blog, but he seems to be playing a key part in making it very ugly as it relates to me. I don't know what his problem is, but the notion that he's in love with me is offensive to Trooper's wife, so I wouldn't say that.

Lem is an especially nice person who was in the old days a very nice commenter here. He still comments here. I don't know if he thinks there's anything he can do about the ugliness that he invited onto the front page of his blog. That's a problem with doing a group blog.

Why does Trooper hate Meade? I don't even know that he really does. Maybe he just loves the comedy and drama of one man who's willing to say anything crushing another man whom he likes to think of as physically smaller. Trooper is a big Trump fan. Put together the psychological profile.

I have spent time in person with Trooper, and I've done blog posts putting his store in a positive light. So his virulent hostility toward me isn't just something that happened on the internet. He got to personally know me. That makes the antagonism weirder than it would otherwise be.

Meade said...

"OK. What do they have on you , tradguy? Where are you being held? You don't have to say anything. Just blink. Once for yes, twice for no.
Hang tight we'll get you out."

LOL

Robert Cook said...

"Bernie's principles are mostly about what should be done with other people's money."

That's what all politics is about, always. The people vote to decide which candidates for office we most trust with our money, or with whom we most agree as to how our money should be spent. One way or the other, whichever candidates attain office, our money will be spent. Bernie just believes more of our money should be spent for our benefit, rather than for further enriching the already rich. (Bernie's big negative is that he doesn't believe this enough, in that he offers too much support for and insufficient criticism of our calamitous military expenditures and actions abroad.)

Meade said...

Frankly, tradguy is a longtime favorite of mine. Yes we keep him chained in the basement to the sewer main. But we give him an old Compac, free wifi, and I take him out in the bright sun every Tuesday, let him hobble around, eat sticks and forbs.

And then I waterboard his Trump-loving ass.

MadisonMan said...

can just eat my cheese.

Only if it's #1 in the World! Wait! A Wisconsin Cheese is!

Re: Trooper (Hi Trooper!) I always enjoyed his posts from the POV of a retail businessman and the (to me) hilarious shenanigans that went with that. So I was sad to see him not posting here, but people come and go for a variety of reasons. I don't post on lem's blog, although I'll read it on occasion, because there's no time.

(Except I just posted there -- because I was looking for the name of Trooper's store -- LeeLee's Valise -- because I couldn't remember it and it was bugging me!)

traditionalguy said...

The Professor remembered what really happened. My memory from 4 years ago is hit and miss. But I appreciate Ann and Meade's kindness in putting up with me for so many years.

So thanks Rusty, but I don't want to be gotten out.

tim in vermont said...

Just what this blog needs, a love triangle!

Meade said...

Extra forbs for tradguy next Tuesday.