Damn it, Bill
I defended Obama against Althouse et al.‘s unfounded and visually illiterate accusations, but I just can’t bring myself to back the Big Dog when he’s so obviously enjoying the view:
I defended Obama against Althouse et al.‘s unfounded and visually illiterate accusations, but I just can’t bring myself to back the Big Dog when he’s so obviously enjoying the view:
Barry Freed:
January 21st, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Who is that he’s checking out?
Craig:
January 21st, 2013 at 4:50 pm
Billy Jeff is our foremost ex-Presidential scholar of the badonkadonk.
SEK:
January 21st, 2013 at 4:52 pm
Kelly Clarkson, I believe.
Tybalt:
January 21st, 2013 at 4:58 pm
I’ll defend him. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
Abby Spice:
January 21st, 2013 at 4:58 pm
I may or may not have thought it was Meghan McCain when she first showed up on my screen.
rea:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:01 pm
It looks to me like Clinton is 3 rows back, looking around two people in front of him, and his expression may just be an artifact of the moment rather than representing some serious oggling on his part.
SEK:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:03 pm
Which suggests he’s checking out Biden, doesn’t it? I suppose that’s better …
Murc:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:08 pm
I’d hit that.
Clarkson looks pretty hot too.
FlipYrWhig:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:10 pm
I know you’re the master of the eye-line, SEK, but wouldn’t his eyes be pointed much lower if he were trying to focus on a butt two rows down?
Randy Paul:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:11 pm
He’s channeling Sir Mix-a-Lot.
The prophet Nostradumbass:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:11 pm
Ann “Lets take a closer look at those breasts” Althouse is a crackpot.
rea:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:13 pm
There appears to be someone between Clinton and Biden who we can’t see very well, too.
SEK:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:19 pm
I’m mostly being flip in this post. I’m just recovering from the flu and lack the time/energy to figure out what he was actually looking at. But given his reputation …
Law Spider:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:29 pm
Scott, I generally love your visual-education posts. And I’m a woman who used to (back in the day) be the recipient/victim of some annoying oggling. But this comment is a cheap shot. As people have noted, he’s quite close to her, and if he were focused on something lower than her head/ upper back, his eyes would be lower. (Look at the red-headed woman’s eyes. His eyes are indeed aimed lower, but by very little.) And unless you are a robot, your eyes generally scan around while you are looking at someone. Especially when the speaker is facing the other direction, and the observer can’t focus on a face, eventually the observer is going to look downwards. Not to mention, she’s wearing a wool coat — there can’t be much definition to her backside. Bill deserves a little more respect.
LosGatosCA:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:30 pm
I think the picture is only conclusive that Bill is getting the most out of his life and its opportunities.
It’s just as likely he’s checking out the camera angles to make sure he’s in the shot.
SEK:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:35 pm
It’s a cheap shot. But I included a link to my defense of Obama as a way to balance its cheapness.
MAJeff:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:36 pm
Well, Beau is pretty damned good looking.
Medrawt:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:36 pm
The redhead over on the right side of the frame agrees with you.
Incontinentia Buttocks:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:39 pm
Sometimes an onion ring is just an onion ring (though usually it’s Hillary Clinton’s ladyparts).
blowback:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:41 pm
From behind, I doubt you could see any flesh – not even a finely turned ankle
Chuchundra:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:46 pm
And God bless him for it.
i.boskone:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:49 pm
If we accept this premise, then this would be a shot with Beyonce in the foreground.
LittleMac:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Dude, Kelly Clarkson has significantly more back than Beyonce nowadays.
max:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:54 pm
He’s simply trying to see around the two heads that directly in his line of sight.
However, if they catch him eyeballing some attractive lady’s ass, I
shant begrudge himwould applaud him for his good sense.max
['Dog-whistling and audible remarks are out, of course, as they should be at all times.']
Law Spider:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:59 pm
As long as it was all in good fun. Having just gone back to review your linked post, I am even more impressed than before by your visual-explanation prowess. (However, just FYI, the link to the video of the Obama event is dead.)
Hillary ’16!
blowback:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:18 pm
Really?
Aaron Baker:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Ah, Clinton . . . during the eight awful years of Bush no. 2, I really missed that big lug.
Anonymous:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:28 pm
I understand it when you say you’re being “flip” here, but there comes a point at which it’s just utterly depressing that a woman in public is automatically considered eye-fucking fodder for some Important Dude whom we love (cue all the Gooooooooo Biillllll comments here; we’re very happy he’s enjoying The View, hardy har har). As blowback notes, she couldn’t be more prim and proper in dress and makeup, and still simply being in the vicinity of a man famous for harassing and goosing women and fucking employees who may or may not have fully consented makes her (and him) suspect.
Tybalt:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:32 pm
People are not allowed to look at each other now? He is not leering or making her uncomfortable. He is looking, and looks as if he likes what he sees. There is nothing wrong with this. I don’t care if you are dressed as Queen Victoria herself. We are allowed to look at other people.
Anonymous:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:38 pm
What an hysterical, overly emotional response. I never suggested people stop looking at other people. I’m commenting on how the male gaze continues to inform the way media interprets these kinds of photographs. Read for comprehension, dude.
CashandCable:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:52 pm
Calm down and stop contradicting yourself. On the one hand, you note how we’re talking about a “man famous for harassing and goosing women and fucking employees who may or may not have fully consented” (which I would say definitely gives people a reason to instinctually believe he’s checking out a lady on the sly). And then you immediately overreach and start talking about the “male gaze” or how “a woman in public is automatically considered eye-fucking fodder for some Important Dude whom we love.”
Newsflash: it’s not about “men” or “Important Dudes”, it’s about the public figures who once got a blowjob from an intern half his age. Much smaller sample there.
Djur:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:53 pm
“a man famous for harassing and goosing women and fucking employees who may or may not have fully consented”
Huh, I thought he was famous for having several consensual affairs.
Incontinentia Buttocks:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Well, to be fair, he’s also famous for making millions off of Whitewater, arranging for Vince Foster’s death, running drugs for the CIA out of Mena, Arkansas, and ordering all “W”s removed from White House computer keyboards in January, 2001.
Point is that just ’cause someone is famous for something doesn’t mean they did it.
calling all toasters:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:04 pm
That, sir, is an insult to both pot and crack.
Djur:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Sure, but when Clinton is photographed with a young woman who has the temerity to possess breasts, Ann Althouse’s commenters say stuff like “who’s the intern?” Even his enemies mostly remember Monica, not Paula and the others.
Manju:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick
Djur:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Vince Foster, Ron Brown
Anonymous:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:16 pm
Cool story, bro.
As I say, male left-wing commenters tend to exhibit Tin Ear and Blinders On syndrome when it comes to liberal-ish male politicians and sexism. Rape-y behavior becomes a misunderstanding or a consensual affair, and a dude noted for harassing women when he had the power to do so is cheered on when he makes (or, in this case, doesn’t make) googly eyes at a young woman with accomplishments in her own right who, in turn and by virtue of being seen, now constitutes a “view.”
Djur:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:33 pm
I agree with you on the “go get ‘em, Bill” point, but I don’t know of any claims about Clinton’s sexual behavior that can really be dismissed as a “misunderstanding”. The only proven/admitted behavior was with Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers, and both of those were consensual. The alleged behavior with Paula Jones was unambiguously harassment, and Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick alleged sexual assault.
I think most Clinton supporters completely dismiss the accusations from Jones, Willey, and Broaddrick as politically-motivated fabrications. Leaving those aside, the image of Clinton remains “horny adulterer”, not “sexual predator”.
CaptBackslap:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:36 pm
DAMN
Davis X. Machina:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:36 pm
‘Tis a warm failing, and the failing of a great man, as the Irish say.
SEK:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:39 pm
I’m not sure how my saying, off the cuff, that I’m not going to defend Clinton constitutes an implicit endorsement of the male gaze.
rea:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:42 pm
he’s quite close to her
Actually, I suspect the camera angle distorts that, and he’s actually not very close to her–he’s in the third row back, and there’s probably some space between her and the first row.
Manju:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Just a moment ago you appeared to be unaware that allegations of non-consensual sexual activity against Clinton even existed.
You had about 10 minutes to review the facts. How were you able to determine so quickly that the women were lying?
Funkula`:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:46 pm
Sasquatch, Isreal
laura:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:56 pm
There’s nothing wrong with the Male Gaze unless it shuts down the Male Brain.
Djur:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:56 pm
I didn’t say they were lying, and I am perfectly aware of Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick.
I said Bill Clinton is famous for his consensual affairs, specifically that with Monica Lewinsky. I do not believe he is widely considered to be a rapist and a sexual harasser, and I do not believe that the accusations of Willey and Broaddrick are widely known.
laura:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:57 pm
I thought it was Al Gore who had the Ws removed from keyboards.
SEK:
January 21st, 2013 at 8:00 pm
I’m totally going to steal that.
John Protevi:
January 21st, 2013 at 8:06 pm
The Premier is a man of the people, but he is also a man, if you see what I mean.
Sharon:
January 21st, 2013 at 8:29 pm
So he’ photo bombing Kelly?
Wouldn’t put it past him! ; )
paulo:
January 21st, 2013 at 8:30 pm
I think if you follow his eyes they are making a beeline to the one thing even more powerful that bootie – a camera!
laura:
January 21st, 2013 at 9:09 pm
That’s credible: it sounds like Bill.
Major Kong:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Say what you will about him. He at least had the benefit of not being a fucking sociopath like a certain fake Texan in recent memory.
Jameson Quinn:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:19 pm
Seriously. That’s a face you make at someone, or for someone, not when you’re just basking in the glory of somebody’s proportions. I am sure that Bill checks ‘em out all the time… but not this time.
Jameson Quinn:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:21 pm
I don’t think I could name a single president who wasn’t sometimes a sociopath. But yeah, some are worse than others.
Dilan Esper:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:23 pm
You should be more critical as to WHY Clinton supporters dismiss those allegations. Were they really redolent with credibility problems (and I mean actual credibility problems, not the sorts of arguments based on “sluttiness” and “manipulativeness” that defense lawyers in rape cases often use and which our side rightly condemns when deployed by anyone other than Bill Clinton)?
And bear in mind, until the blue dress, the official Clinton story, told to many of his supporters and blasted by many surrogates throughout the media, was that Lewinsky was a stalker.
People should be much more honest. You don’t have to think that impeachment was correct or that he was a terrible President to concede that Bill Clinton may have acted in various shady, rape-y ways with a number of women. Many powerful men on both sides of the aisle have done the same thing.
LosGatosCA:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:37 pm
Kelly might consider it photobombing but I’m sure Bill just thinks of it as another photo op he can put on the wall.
He’s just a big kid and the world is his candy store.
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:42 pm
Mena, Arkansas
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:43 pm
I’ll say it. They were lying
Anonymous:
January 22nd, 2013 at 12:37 am
Really? That’s surprising. I should think calling her “the view” does just that and I find it hard to believe you’re not aware of that.
Again, I don’t think he was looking at her. I don’t think you think he was looking at her. It’s not wrong to look at people. The feminazis, despite what Tybalt insinuates above, are not coming to collect yer eyeballs and/or penises for re-educumacation purposes.
But, as with the “who’s the new intern?” schtick, this whole thing where we play for silly season laughs the concept of objectification because the person doing the objectifying is on our side and the one being objectified is just some silly girl begins to fucking pall after a while.
If even banal instances of sexism can’t be called sexism for fear of offending men on the interwebs, I honestly don’t know how we’re going to sort out the larger, more oppressive instances.
Anonymous:
January 22nd, 2013 at 12:43 am
Apart from all of that, I don’t know who you think you’re fucking kidding with the who-me routine. Who else is talking about and framing this photograph this way? Who else is calling him Bill and Big Dog, all chummy and affectionate-like? You selected the photo and made a post about it. What other interpretation, given your commentary, is there?
blowback:
January 22nd, 2013 at 2:59 am
The Daily Mail has an article that is more balanced than this post. The fucking Daily Mail for Christ’s sake!
Tybalt:
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:23 am
Actually, when you view the tape, it’s clear he isn’t checking out anything. The look is utterly fleeting. Sad to say.
Tybalt:
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:30 am
I’m so glad you went with “hysterical” here (lacking a uterus though I am) because I would love you to identify the language I used that is in any way emotional.
Tybalt:
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:35 am
And, I might add (now verging somewhat toward the emotional) what exactly am I supposed to “read for comprehension”, you insufferable twit? Your second sentence makes no sense whatsoever (suspect of…?) and “fodder” doesn’t mean what you must think it means, because, yuck.
Left_Wing_Fox:
January 22nd, 2013 at 9:48 am
That alone is probably a good indication that this is a troll doing an impression of a SJW. Seriously, if there are two phrases that get jumped on quick by actual feminists, it’s “hysterical” and “emotional”.
dave:
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:48 am
Monica Lewinsky was NOT and intern at the time of the affair.
Ken Starr (not exacly a Clinton supporter) concluded that Kathleen Willey was a liar and almost charged her with perjury.
dave:
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:49 am
Ken Starr agrees.
BlueLoom:
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:57 am
God (or whoever) gave each male a brain and a penis, but not enough blood to use both at the same time.
Brien Jackson:
January 22nd, 2013 at 1:58 pm
“Who else is talking about and framing this photograph this way?”
Um, was this meant as a serious statement?
Jon Hendry:
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:05 pm
It could be a shot of Clinton just after he was ogling, after he remembered he would probably get caught ogling, and raised his eyes, with that “whoops, busted” look on his face.
SqueakyRat:
January 23rd, 2013 at 8:41 am
You really can’t tell much of anything about facial expression from still photographs. Our brains don’t do it by examining instantaneous snapshots.