October 27, 2015

The official Hillary Clinton website does viral media with a collection of how-to tips on how to make DIY Hillary costumes for Halloween.

The page is titled "Texts from Hillary and 4 other DIY Hillary Clinton costumes for Halloween/What’s in Hillary’s closet? A lifetime of looks," and there are 5 photos of Hillary from various stages of her life, each with a photo of a woman emulating her. We're given a list of items, for example, to be "Hipster Hillary," from 1969, you need a white blouse, glasses, striped pants, "leather shoes" (why stress "leather" rather than sandals?), and long, loose hair. The campaign promo is there: Hillary was "Wellesley College’s first-ever student commencement speaker."



I got there via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit, that is, I caught the virus through someone who loathes Hillary and prompts readers to laugh contemptuously ("Not The Onion"). I was initially surprised that the campaign would portray Hillary as a subject for Halloween (traditionally the realm of monsters and the dead), but reading the page, I saw the value. The bio is there, the young women modeling the costumes all look like they're having fun with it. And the Hillary haters who propagate the link, layering on their contempt and astonishment, give it spin that is useful for those who'd love to scream with horror at that old reflexive misogyny, risen from the grave once again.

By the way, back in 1969, college kids didn't refer to each other as "hipsters." A "hipster" would have been a man from the past, more of a 1950s beatnik in some smoky urban jazz club. The word the Hillary campaign has apparently forgotten is: "hippie."

Hippie, oddly enough, has become a go-to Halloween costume in recent years, perhaps because it's easy to put together from crap you might have around the house, like the old-standbys of the 1950s and 60s: bum and gypsy.

32 comments:

Paco Wové said...

Hippies are, pretty much by definition, all old white people now. Nobody sticks up for them.

tim in vermont said...

I guess it's all Hillary all the time now on this blog. Whatever. Good luck with that.

David Begley said...

How about an orange pantsuit?

Tank said...

Hey, hey, hey, I'm gonna need a trigger warning if you're gonna use words like bum and gypsy. Also, gypsy, that word is racist. Like "hard working."

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

What a vile human being. A corrupt, incompetent, pathological liar. I guess Hillary finally has her first accomplishment after all these years though, she's won over Althouse.

MacMacConnell said...

The official Hillary costume? So that's what a grifter looks like.

Curious George said...

Don't forget the strap-on ladies.

dbp said...

A pointy hat, green makeup, maybe black fingernail polish. HRC costume ready!

Rumpletweezer said...

I like scary costumes, but this is too horrifying!

Birkel said...

So this will be useful for all those who wish to scream about anti-woman stuff for the eleventy seventh time? I look forward to the high level of discourse.

Laslo Spatula said...

"...from crap you might have around the house, like the old-standbys of the 1950s and 60s: bum and gypsy."

Or an old sheet with eye-holes to be a Ghost. Or a KKK member.

Depends on the neighborhood.

I am Laslo.

TreeJoe said...

I've been reading althouse and instapundit for about a decade now, give or take, and I have asked pointedly what exactly Driscoll's role has become at instapundit - and been ignored.

I have loved Reynolds postings for awhile and his right-leaning-but-libertarian-will-call-out-GOP-on-anything style. But now, Ed Driscoll is, what, 40% of all postings on Instapundit and he's definitely a mock-and-despise-the-left blogger. His sense of humor is twisted by actual hatred, and so many of his jokes miss the mark.

I get that in some ways Glenn Reynolds has suffered from Andrew Sullivan syndrome and needed some fellow bloggers to help him out - albeit while disclosing who is who when posting.

Often when Althouse, McArdle, and others were guest-blogging it was a decent mix of center to solidly right postings. Now it's center right to far right, and the tone is a turn-off to me.

My question to Instapundit, posed through this Althouse comment thread, is this: You often accuse newspapers and newsrooms of decline because they started more heavily representing one particular viewpoint.

But Instapundit has fallen into the same trap. So are we going to see more bloggers of a more centrist or even center left view pop up on Instapundit?

My guess is no, that they'll add more bloggers and they'll be more and more solidly right or even far right and that that will represent the decline of Instapundit over the next ~5 years or so.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

tim in vermont said...
So long, thanks for all the fish!


Can you take Drago with you?

chickelit said...

Althouse wrote: Hippie, oddly enough, has become a go-to Halloween costume in recent years, perhaps because it's easy to put together from crap you might have around the house, like the old-standbys of the 1950s and 60s: bum and gypsy.

By the 1970's, you wouldn't have called a bum a bum. It was "hobo" which evoked the 1930s and 40s and usually featured a bag on a stick. "Bum" was a pejorative word introduced to disparage hippies. "Bum" also described the loser in the MB game "Mystery Date" inter alia. "Bum" probably also spawned the word "bummer."

Conservative ideals said...

I still prefer the traditional black hat, green make up, and warty nose Hillary costume for Halloween.

MadisonMan said...

Hillary, you are Trying Too Hard.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Helpful for authenticity:
A gizmo that sucks out your soul and replaces your personality with a sociopath.

Scott said...

Very cult-of-personality.

Fernandinande said...

Boy, that Hillary sure is a fun-loving, down-to-earth criminal, isn't she?

Wince said...

"You see what you get Althouse Hillbillies, you see what you get when you mess with Scott Walker!"

Ann Althouse said...

"By the 1970's, you wouldn't have called a bum a bum. It was "hobo" which evoked the 1930s and 40s and usually featured a bag on a stick. "Bum" was a pejorative word introduced to disparage hippies."

Hobo was the rural transient (with the bag on a stick). Bum was the urban drunk, down on his luck guy. It was common to say "Bowery bum," remember. Hobo was a guy from the past as you indicate. A bum was a present day character.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Well, at least they've bucked recent trends in Halloween costumes and not posted instructions for a "Sexy" Hillary! costume.

Meade said...

Reagan had two themes in his first run for office. The man who later became known as "The Great Communicator" vowed to send "the welfare bums back to work," and "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." The latter became a Reagan mantra.

MadisonMan said...

We never went as bums at Halloween -- in the late 60s/early 70s. Hobo was the term used.

Roughcoat said...

I guess it's all Hillary all the time now on this blog.

And sex. Women having or not having sex . Gram-gram likes talking about the sex.

William said...

@tim in vermont: In all thing moderation. A comment or two with the morning coffee. Maybe a few more before bed. Such a regimen gives one a chance to interact with the larger world in a safe, controlled environment with very little chance of it driving you crazy.. At any rate, your comments were trenchant and sane, and I enjoyed them.

DavidD said...

Pick up a pantsuit at Goodwill.

Take it to a party.

Set it on fire.

Just don't try doing that while you're wearing it.

Thuglawlibrarian said...

This is all so very Obama crush 2007. Like a dog that goes back to its vomit.

chillblaine said...

I'm going as Woman Of The Year. Caitlyn Gender. Heaven help anyone who misgenders me.

Have They announced the Words of the Year yet? "Mansplaining" has to be number one. The vagina as fascist state mandates this.

damikesc said...

Can't you just be homely and be doormat for a powerful man?

JackOfClubs said...

Another advantage to having multiple Hillaries is that maybe one of them might turn out to be alive. Not really a proper theme for Halloween, but still.

Michael K said...

" they'll be more and more solidly right or even far right and that that will represent the decline of Instapundit over the next ~5 years or so."

I haven't noticed this. Driscoll seems to fit in without a noticeable shift like there would be if Mark Levin or Michael Savage guest blogged.

As far as "Bum" as a term, our hostess needs to study a little history. Sherman foragers were called "bummers" and on one occasion, when they ran into a small group of Confederates, they warned them, "We're Uncle Billy's bummers and you'd better git !" Small groups of bummers found by Confederates who were not as chivalrous would be hung.

The soldiers of Sherman's army loved him. That army was the greatest army in history since Alexander's. And the "bummers" led the way.,