May 24, 2013

Huma Abedin: "A Wife With Powerful Ties Is an Unexpected Architect of a New York Comeback."

That's a front-page article in the NYT, illustrated by a picture of Huma and Hillary that makes them look like a single 2-headed entity. The Times, citing unnamed sources, calls Abedin "a seasoned operative well versed in the politics of redemption" and "a main architect of her husband’s rehabilitative journey, shaping his calculated comeback," who is exploiting her status as a "surrogate daughter to Bill and Hillary Clinton."

This is very interesting to me, because when I watched this video, Weiner's first in his mayoral campaign....



... I thought Anthony Weiner did a great job, presenting himself in the context of New York City, seeming to really belong to the city and its people and to care about it and to be ready to serve. And then there's Huma. She appears in a speaking role at the very end, and there's just something off and unnatural about her. Weiner comes across as a regular guy — he's got the actor skills of a politician — but she — in her seeming fakeness — betrays the reality: This is a remorseless machine of a power couple. She's the woman behind the man, and I'm sure they think that bringing her on camera should boost him. She's beautiful — or so we've been told many times — and she stood by her man. If she accepts him after what he did, that should be enough. That should cancel out his sexual misdeeds. If we hold those misdeeds against him, we're punishing her, which would make the opposite of sense, given that the wife is the official victim when the husband sexually sins.

It's like Bill and Hillary all over again, except that — unlike Hillary — Huma doesn't have the actor skills of a politician. She's a behind the scenes person, and though she can look fabulous in stills, in the video, she can't convincingly embody the Warm, Loving Wife character that Americans generally expect to see with a political husband, and that Anthony Weiner in particular needs.

The NYT article reminds us that Abedin "faced scrutiny this month about an arrangement that allowed her to earn money as a private consultant while still working as a top adviser at the State Department." We're told Abedin "fully intends to continue her work with Mrs. Clinton’s transition team" and that  "several political aides have been tempted to sign onto a Weiner mayoral campaign" because they want a connection that might get them in on the Hillary '16 presidential campaign.

The article begins with a description of how Abedin seemingly hoodwinked Chelsea Clinton into appearing in Anthony Weiner's first post-disgrace photo op: "When Chelsea Clinton wanted to make a low-key visit to the hurricane-stricken Rockaways last fall, she arranged to take a trip with her close friend Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton." Huma proceeded to exploit Chelsea's little trip for the re-introduction of Weiner. Now, I'm completely skeptical about whether Chelsea really wanted her visit to be low-key and whether she was surprised or tricked in any way by Anthony's horning in on the Female Empathy Tour of the Stricken. And I'd like to know the real truth of the interactions between the 2 power couples, Bill-and-Hillary and Huma-and-Anthony. I assume the Clintons know everything that's really going on, even as they want to look disconnected. It will be interesting to see what we will be able to figure out about all this, and I think Huma's lack of skill on video camera will be quite helpful in this regard. Bring on the Huma!

By the way, the NYT says "The couple live in a spacious Park Avenue apartment owned by a Clinton donor." But look at the kitchen in the background at the beginning of the video. Come on. That's not their kitchen, is it? I call bullshit.

On everything.

AND:  Rereading that headline... there's that word... that word that is the classic bullshit tell of our time: unexpected.

ALSO: I constantly mistype "Human" for "Huma." I can't tell you how many times I did that in the process of writing this post. But the one that I missed — and left up for 2 hours — was the one in the post title.  To err is human. To err in the post title is... superhuman.

72 comments:

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The democrats are power-hungry liars who never stop pedaling the bullshit. It never ends.


btw- Did Huma ever have Weiner's baby? I always thought that was fake, too.

Hillary! - the Pelosi candidate.

LilyBart said...

Rereading that headline... there's that word... that word that is the classic bullshit tell of our time: unexpected.

How smart and talented can our leaders be if everything going on around us is "unexpected"?

Matt Sablan said...

She's an architect? So, her plan is to erect a mayoral campaign for Weiner?

Anonymous said...

All those problems - most caused by liberal politics - is he running as a Republican?

Let's just call him: Tony "The Tool" Weiner.

Cody Jarrett said...

It could be the kitchen. I've read that even some of the nicer apartments have tiny kitchens.

I'm not certain he'd want--at this stage of his redemption trip--to do something quite as easily mocked as using a fake kitchen to shoot a campaign video. Then again...democrat. Clinton pal. Or at least Clinton pal-in-law.

I'm not a fan of Huma. And I have a built in bias in favor of middle eastern looking women, but that one just looks artificial and more than a little wrong.

And as an aside--I actually think the little weiner would make a better mayor than the one what they got now.

Bob Ellison said...

Human?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Matt Sablan said...

“She seems to have jumped onboard with both boots,” Mr. Weiner said in an interview this week, a palpable pride in his voice. Ms. Abedin, he said, “has forgotten more about politics and public policy than I maybe will ever know.”

-- If that is true, maybe she should run, and he should not.

ricpic said...

The First Lady of New York City a Saudi agent; what could possibly go wrong?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

OK - I watched the first part of the vid. Looks like the baby is real.

virgil xenophon said...

"She's beautiful--or so we've been told many times"

Yes, beautiful just like Michelle..

When I first moved to Louisville in 1976 it publicly billed itself as a "world-class city." My immediate instinct was to think that any city that feels the need to actively advertise itself as "world-class" by definition alone, isn't. Same same for Horse-face Huma's "beauty." (AND Michelle's)

Cody Jarrett said...

AprilApple said...

OK - I watched the first part of the vid. Looks like the baby is real."


Central casting is full of cute babies for rent.

By the hour, day, week or entire campaign season.

Cody Jarrett said...

I did a bing image search and was only able to find one picture of Huma showing signs of a baby bump.

Is that odd, for a fairly high profile person living in NYC?

Jake said...

You're right about Huma at the end. Her eyes dart to the right for a split second at 2:04. It's weirdly off-putting.

virgil xenophon said...

PS: Don't get me wrong, I LUV Luh-a-vuul, but a NYC London, Paris, Sydney or Hong-Kong it's not.

Known Unknown said...

You're right about Huma at the end. Her eyes dart to the right for a split second at 2:04. It's weirdly off-putting.

At least she didn't grab a bottle of water.

Astro said...

She's Human?
That was unexpected.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

By the hour, day, week or entire campaign season.

With democrats, it's always campaign/bullshit season. Now with help from the IRS.

Known Unknown said...

HUMAN Abedin. She's not a robot! We swear!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Hillary's! Human!

virgil xenophon said...

I also wonder, were Weiner elected, what would happen to NYC's anti-Muslim terrorist intelligence task-force under the influence of Huma as her husband's obvious advisor and help-mate--considering the fact that she and her parents are ALL deeply enmeshed with/connected to organizations that openly support Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organizations.

edutcher said...

Unexpected?

You didn't expect the Weiner to stay down forever, did you?

(had to)

PS Another sign Willie realizes he isn't going to get his third term on the skirttails of Hillary! or Chelsea, so he's trying to build a new machine.

Considering Andy Cuomo is against it, somebody better watch their back come Valentine's Day.

cubanbob said...

Liberal democrats and bullshit. Like white on rice.

Astro said...

To me it always seems like a 'tell' when a person is saying one thing, but shaking their head 'no' while saying it.
"We will work hard.'' ("/No, we won't.")
"We will fight for the middle class." ("/No, we won't.")

pdug said...

Where are all the people who hear dog whistles of racism on that picture of Hillary and a "wife".

Something subtle? or not.

pdug said...

So wait. Wiener says if you want to buy a house in NYC, you need a million bucks.

So he wants to....what? drive housing prices WAY DOWN? How will that fly?

Amexpat said...

If she accepts him after what he did, that should be enough. That should cancel out his sexual misdeeds.

Perhaps, but the greater sin is how he emphatically denied it and claimed that that he was being framed by political opponents. That undermines any phony sincerity that he may effuse in the future. A sharp political opponent would eviscerate him on that and not the puerile sexual behavior.

Anonymous said...

Run, Weiner! Run!

Charlie said...

A humiliating defeat for all of them is what I predict and hope for.

ricpic said...

I, Anthony Weiner, a Democrat hack, will protect you, the little guy (a schnook I despise) from the unions, taxes and regulations that as a Dem hack I MUST support or die. Oh, I also will bring a Saudi agent into the inner sanctum of the, goes without saying, highly prejudiced anti-terrorist division of the racist stop and frisk NYPD, soon to be declawed by Huma and me. Christ this knish is good!

X said...

please New York, elect that weird little pervert.

Michael K said...

Is there anything left about the Clintons that doesn't turn my stomach ? No.

test said...

CEO-MMP said...
It could be the kitchen. I've read that even some of the nicer apartments have tiny kitchens.

I'm not certain he'd want--at this stage of his redemption trip--to do something quite as easily mocked as using a fake kitchen to shoot a campaign video.


It came out this morning his campaign used the Pittsburgh skyline as a backdrop. Let's not credit him with an over-abundance of competence. He got where he is because of his looks and connections. There's nothing in his background suggesting any particular ability.

X said...

He got where he is because of his looks

that line brought me to a screeching halt.

Chip Ahoy said...

My favorite part of that whole thing is, "Well yeah, there might be more pictures."

Charlie Currie said...

Weiner says (I paraphrase): "If you want to buy a home in NYC it will cost you a million dollars" and "Good jobs with benefits are no longer available in NYC".

How do you buy a million dollar home without a good job.

Do all the million dollar home owners work in Jersey. Could be they live in NYC and work in DC.

Cheers

hawkeyedjb said...

Why on earth is someone like Anthony Weiner being seriously considered for a position like mayor of New York? Does he have any qualifications, any accomplishments, any executive experience whatsoever? We seem to have created a class of people who are put in office because they are people who want to be in office - they have nothing to recommend them, they haven't done anything significant, they have no apparent skills at running anything but their mouths.

Think of the people who have actually accomplished something before they ran for executive office. Dwight Eisenhower ran a huge bureaucracy, led a million men and helped win a world war. Still, there were people who weren't sure he would make a good chief executive. Now we have Anthony Weiner: a nobody who's done nothing. It's awful.

pdug said...

@chuck Its that good jobs with benefits are no longer available to people who go to public school.

madAsHell said...

There's nothing in his background suggesting any particular ability.

He could be the President!!

test said...

X said...
He got where he is because of his looks

that line brought me to a screeching halt.


Regardless of your opinion or mine the evidence is clear that a significant portion of a certain class of women do respond to him. Maybe charisma would have been a better term.

X said...

not exactly fair hawkeye. he is an accomplished amateur penis photographer.

Gabriel Hanna said...

I find Huma Abedin's beauty to be more of an informed attribute. She does look good in very expensive clothes, and that's enough to get you into fashion magazines.

The people of New York, when they elected Hillary Clinton, already showed that they put the political ambitions of the Clintons and their nepots ahead of any other consideration. They get the government they deserve.

dustbunny said...

He's sympathizing with business's strangled by regulations??? Talk about bullshit

SteveR said...

Hillary is a full time political actor but not a very good one. But like pornography, the fantasy is enough for some people. I would think she would go all in to help her loyal body woman get her husband elected but I expect she'll put 2016 well above that.

Anonymous said...

Not for nuttin', New Yawkers, but please don't buy that chapped, weeks-old Weiner sitting under the hot lamp at the 7-11. It loves the hot lamp, and so does the Huma next to it.

That processed meat's been poured into the Clinton mystery machine in back, a machine which the hacks who wrote this story still believe has some kind of magic powers. Put on that Clinton stamp and eat up!

P.S. No more f**king Big Gulps either and don't look Bloomberg in the eye..

Astro said...

Marshal said: It came out this morning his campaign used the Pittsburgh skyline as a backdrop.

Oh, that's hilarious.
Yep, really cares about New York.
"Mission Accomplished."

jacksonjay said...


How does this Huma character get away with moonlighting? Hey, she made a lot of money while still employed by the State Department! Wow!

Bill R said...

That he's named 'Weiner' is a gift from the humor gods.

If only his first name was 'Richard'.

ByondPolitics said...

Seriously part of NYC? His arms are folded defensively while the guy he's talking to is expansive & open. Speaks volumes.

Bill R said...

That he's named 'Weiner' is a gift from the humor gods.

If only his first name was 'Richard'.

William said...

As Gabriel Hanna observed, it's not so much she is beautiful, as the fact that she wears beautiful clothes and wears them well. Her somewhat harsh features do not upstage the clothes but rather complement them. Composers liked the thin voice of Fred Astaire because it held the melody line and did not upstage it. I think fashion people probably like Huma for the same reason. You're probably more inclined to notice the elegance of her clothes than the physical attributes of Huma.....Well, NYC is a fashion capital. Perhaps a clothes horse would not be out of place.

William said...

A few kind words for Weiner. He really does a credible imitation of a likable human being. It's all bullshit, of course, but at least he tries. In this respect he's got an edge over some of the other mayoral candidates......So far as his sexual transgressions go, they are more comical than sordid. He's an exhibitionist, but he has acted out his perversion in a responsible, civilized manner. It's about time we accepted exhibitionism as just another way of expressing our sexuality. It seems to me that in many ways exhibitionists are less problematic for society than the transgendered, especially those who seek acceptance in the Marines.. If Weiner had a relapse while addressing Planned Parenthood or NOW, I would love him forever and actively work for his candidacy.

MadisonMan said...

HUMAN Abedin. She's not a robot! We swear!

(laugh). Typos that introduce a great meaning are awesome.

Richard Dolan said...

Sadly, Weiner may be the best of a particularly weak lot on the Dem side in the mayoral election. The Rep team offers two high-performing managerial types (Lhota and Catsimatidis), neither of whom would be recognizably Rep in any other part of the country. But after 20 years of (nominally) Rep mayors, that string may be played out for a while.

John henry said...

Before Huma met Anthony she had an awful lot of money that was never explained.

Where did that come from?

How did she ever get a security clearance at State with her mother a potential hostage in Saudi Arabia?

Huma stinks from start to finish.

IF we had a press they would be looking into her.

Since we don't, she gets the glamour treatment.

John Henry

John henry said...

Agree about the Kitchen, Ann.

It looks like the kitchen unit in a Candlewood Suites or Residence Inn hotel.

As does the "dining" area.

John Henry

Kirk Parker said...

"Drowning in regulations that nickel-and-dime you to death"

OK, so he's running as the anti-Bloomberg? This could be interesting!


"In Congress, I got a billion dollars to put more cops on the beat"

Oops, no: just another big-government guy, ho hum, ZZZzzzzzzzz...

Chip S. said...

He stole his platform from the Rent Is Too Damn High Party.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

in the video, she can't convincingly embody the Warm, Loving Wife character that Americans generally expect to see with a political husband...

Says who? Why not?

You just don't like the way she looks.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

And I'd like to know the real truth of the interactions between the 2 power couples, Bill-and-Hillary and Huma-and-Anthony.

Not like yours, eh?

Rialby said...

Chuck said:
"How do you buy a million dollar home without a good job.

Do all the million dollar home owners work in Jersey. Could be they live in NYC and work in DC."

No. They live in Saudia Arabia, Dubai and Beijing. The vast majority of buyers of expensive real estate in NY and the rest of the country are foreigners.

Unknown said...

Oh, yes, by all means if we must have sexual perverts in government, and it sees that we must, at least exhibitionists are the least perverted.

Rialby said...

And he's right. It is getting harder and harder to get a good job. I'm sure he'd tell you that Obamacare has nothing to do with that though.

Rialby said...

Or Blue State government regulation.

Unknown said...

seems that we must
not sees that we must
sigh
Another fabulous point ruined by my iPad.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I call bullshit.

On everything.


People really do see the world the way they are, don't they?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Oh, yes, by all means if we must have sexual perverts in government, and it sees that we must, at least exhibitionists are the least perverted.

Maybe the existence of such things as "Spring Break" and "Girls Gone Wild" videos are the reason for such low participation by women in the government.

A trenchcoat must be like a male's bikini, I suppose.

Female sexuality should be glamorized! Male sexuality pathologized!

A Republic of Eunuchs awaits.

Unknown said...

And, it was done responsibly, not like trench coats in the park which shock only the person flashed.
Volume!
Now that's responsible.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Pushing the wrong button on an electronic Twitter account means one sought extra volume/publicity?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Thank goodness we can rely on the inherent goodness and maternalism of women to shield our eyes from their craven displays of nudity, semi-nudity, form-fitting apparel, etc., throughout society!

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Huma Abedin has Megan Draper teeth.

walter said...

eh..maybe "beautiful" is pushing it. But then..I remember 0 talking about the charm, cute and dazzling smile of Wasserman Schultz. Gag. That was some seriously strained salesmanship. If she was in my foxhole....

Personally, I didn't get much one way or the other from Huma's one sentence role in the video. I didn't notice the glance. I guess Quagmire, I mean Weiner has that much "charisma".