Hillary's new beef: Putin's manspreading
As if sexism, Bernie Sanders, James Comey, the Russians, and all the other things she blames her election loss on weren't enough to complain about, Hillary Clinton has another thing she'd like you to know about: Putin is a manspreader.
The former secretary of state confided to talk show host Stephen Colbert last night that the Russian president is a dreadful sexist, and one way she knows it is in his bad habit of "manspreading," or, as New York subway riders know, sitting with one's legs apart on a crowded subway so as to take up two seats.
Hillary, rather incredibly, given her limousine lifestyle, claimed that it is something she, as a New Yorker, knows all about. Asked whether it was she whom Putin couldn't stand rather than her policies, Clinton launched into her sexism shtick:
Clinton: I see it as I was doing my job, I was honored to do my job, to stand up and speak out on behalf for American values and our democracy, and, partly because I'm a woman, which does seems to get him a bit agitated, I um, and he actually has said that, um, things about that...
Colbert: Did he ever say anything to you personally that demonstrated his such...
Clinton: Well he demonstrated as I write in the book, you know there's an expression, we certainly know it in New York, it's called manspreading...
Colbert: Yes.
Clinton: And every time I met with him, it would be (demonstrates), ok? The whole deal. And so, I'd go to meetings with him, one in particular, we were in his dacha outside of Moscow, and the press comes in, and he just berates America about one of the many things that annoys him about us, and then the press leaves, and I've got four or five things we're trying to deal with him and Russia on. And I always came to my meetings with him trying to find something that I could actually engage him about, so we went thorugh the economy and human rights an all these other things that are critically important, and he was, you know, like, them as President Obama once said, like the bored guy in the back of the room, he couldn't care less. And then I said, you know, I am really pleased to hear that you care about wildlife conservation and that you are trying to save species in Russia, like Siberian tigers and polar bears. Then he came alive, and then we had an interesting conversation so...
Colbert: (in a Russian accent) I wrestle polar bears...
Clinton: Yeah, I wrestle polar bears. No, he said to me, so he said, 'come with me,' he takes me down the stairs, down this corridor, into the door, all of his security guys are jumping up because we weren't expected, into this inner sanctum with this huge desk, and the biggest map of Russia I think exists, and he started telling me he's going here to tag polar bears. And then he says to me, 'would your husband like to come?'
(laughter)
Clinton: And I said, 'well, you know, I'll ask him, but if he's busy, I'll go.'
(applause)
Note that after her great manspreading charge, Hillary implied that Putin's invitation to Bill Clinton for the rather mundane task of tagging polar bears in Siberia was sexism, too, since he didn't ask her. Being a great diplomat and all, she just had to relay the story on a talk show.
It never occurred to her that maybe Putin didn't want to go tagging polar bears with someone who constantly brings up economics and human rights. Or that Bubba Clinton had more to offer on a road trip than she did. In her mind, it had to be reflexive sexism.
But mainly, it was the manspreading. It's a complaint that goes in line with Hillary's other gripe, that Donald Trump was a "creep" who stood too close to her in the presidential debates, one of her many suggested reasons for claiming she lost.
She has a lot of whinings about body language and very little capacity to recognize that anything in her own personality (or imagination) might have enabled her election loss.
What's vivid here is that this kind of snowflake nitpicking about being triggered over gestures is what she talks about. She never talks about anything serious policy-wise, no lengthy discourses on anything but identity politics. Actually, she mainly focuses on some insignificant mannerism. That's where she is. Any wonder growing numbers of Hillary-watchers are starting to think she's stupid?