There is a conceit on the Left that Hillary lost because she’s a woman; and not because she is a corrupt, decrepit, dishonest left-wing politician with the charm of an IRS audit, the engaging demeanor of a Soviet bureaucrat, and the sincerity of a used car salesman who furthermore represented a continuation of the failed, warmed over socialism policies of Barack Obama.
So, as an experiment intended to demonstrate that Hillary was biased against on account of her sex, an NYU professor decided to restage a Hillary-Trump presidential debate with a woman reciting Trump’s lines and a man reciting Hillary’s. This would demonstrate, so the designers of the experiment thought, that the audience was biased to give Trump (as a man) more credit than Hillary (as a woman).
In fact, it demonstrated the opposite.
Many were shocked to find that they couldn’t seem to find in (the actor playing Male Hillary) what they had admired in Hillary Clinton–or that (the actress playing female Donald Trump)’s clever tactics seemed to shine in moments where they’d remembered Donald Trump flailing or lashing out. For those Clinton voters trying to make sense of the loss, it was by turns bewildering and instructive, raising as many questions about gender performance and effects of sexism as it answered…
We heard a lot of “now I understand how this happened” — meaning how Trump won the election. People got upset. There was a guy two rows in front of me who was literally holding his head in his hands, and the person with him was rubbing his back. The simplicity of Trump’s message became easier for people to hear when it was coming from a woman–that was a theme. One person said, “I’m just so struck by how precise Trump’s technique is.
No matter who said Hillary’s lines, they came across as robotic, prepackaged, pablum. (Because they were.) Whereas Trump’s lines came across as sharp. It was not because she was a woman.
Conservatives have never had trouble with women politicians. Margaret Thatcher was a conservative hero. But conservatives don’t embrace the idea that someone deserves to win just because she is a woman. Leftists believe that. And they believe you’re a misogynist for not also believing that.
Robert Burns:
Whether blinded by ideology or false principle or emotion driven zeal — an epiphany is a bitter pill to swallow.
They thought they needed the messenger and learned that they were beaten by the message. How really juvenile and dull of them.
I highly recommend viewing the video on that link. It shows just how accurately the actors managed to imitate them both, thus making the result that much more conclusive.
Interesting experiment and results. I’m impressed that they were honest enough to investigate their preconceptions and admit they learned something.
Even more to the point, the people who put it on were indeed honest enough to realize how they were feeling even during rehearsals. They began to realize that maybe it was not Trump supporters who were biased, but themselves.
“I’m impressed that they were honest enough to investigate their preconceptions and admit they learned something.”
Why are you impressed? Folks of the liberal/moderate persuasion have something called “intellectual honesty” and are willing to like inward and explore a topic.
It’s a quality that is severing lacking from conservative minded partisan hacks
Like this post for example:
http://www.gaypatriot.net/2017/03/06/standards-of-evidence/
Female Trump was tenacious and uncompromising. Male Clinton was arrogant and condescending.
It wasn’t that “Gordon” was effeminate, it was that he came off as supercilious and smug. It had nothing to do with him acting like a woman.
littlelettermike, the fascist wants us to pull his finger:
“Four years ago, I stood before and told you my story….
……through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family,
…..We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.
……We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma
……each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.
…….Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who’s willing to work.
……That’s the promise of America – the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation
……I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power.
……Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the essence of America’s promise.
……I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
…..The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party.
……For part of what has been lost these past eight years can’t just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose – our sense of higher purpose. And that’s what we have to restore.
……..if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
……I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington.
…… I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s been about you.
…… the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result.
…….Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it – because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.
Well, littlelettermike, the fascist, that is your Obamessiah in front of the styrofoam columns bullspitting America. Please, please, please examine the 8 years of Obamaism and refute or substantiate the the facts with your self-vaunted “intellectual honesty.”
We breathlessly await your brilliance. Or will you disappear from view as your “intellectual honesty” usually impels you?
Leftists like [m]ike who use phrases like “conservative partisan hack” are only parroting the Right. That’s not something they usually say. It’s a lame attempt at hijacking the words of people on the Right whose orientation is towards conservatism & who correctly identify everything. Literally. Unlike commies who throw around an old hat from the 70s. It’s about as lame as Lefties pretending to be members of a townhall GOP constituency in their clown car attempt to recreate the Tea Party for Leftists who never understood it. They’re all left spinning talking nonsense seeing everything through the lens of big govt entitlement, while blaming govt for social injustice! Which is it? Hey, Libs? Do you think it’s “fair” for people who operate on personal responsibility to be forced cooperate with your constant socialist experiments? What would you say if the Right starts forcing you to fend for yourself? Think you can do it?
Lefties accept reality when facts drag them kicking and screaming into the real world. Notice in the article how one liberal student was reduced to tears by the revelation that Hillary Clinton really was a terrible candidate, and that people who voted for Trump weren’t totally brain dead.
It’s the delivery… I love these vids clips were Pres. Trump is dubbed with a posh British accent; Prof. Snape as British policy wonk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUGT30gGtiI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=728_Lwz3nD0
I’m not sure about that. It would be interesting to see yet another version of this in which “Brenda King” delivers Donald’s words but with more feminine verbal intonation and body language, while “Jonathan Gordon” delivers Hillary’s words, but in a gruff, barking manner that’s more R. Lee Ermey and less “guest on The View.”
@ Ted B. #12: Great find! I dunno if the American public would go for an overtly British accent in their President, but maybe that “New England lockjaw” delivery of George Plimpton or Bill Buckley. (Though P.J. O’Rourke once pointed out that if you don’t get this accent just right, you’ll remind voters of Margaret Dumont from the Marx Brothers movies, which is a liability.)
aw look it’s mikey, the guy who opposes prosecuting the Klan!
“Most voters” have no clue who Margaret Dumont was. [**sad]
In 1960, the radio audience of the Nixon-Kennedy debate thought Nixon won handily over JFK. The TV audience had the opposite reaction, and it swayed the election. (That and Joe Kennedy, Sr. and Mayor Daily…)
Thus forever cementing the importance of image in political campaigns. It is why we got Barack Obama—and why we didn’t get Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Though in fairness her over-the-hill aging office manager look probably distracted those who weren’t only able to hear her voice, such as the visually impaired.)
This whole experiment is essentially proof of Scott Adams’ persuasion theory as it relates to the 2016 campaign. I’m a little surprised he hasn’t blogged on it yet.
Hello
Great speech. It was a different time then wasn’t it?. The country was in economic crisis, the military was bogged down in two wars and the whole country was full of economic worry.
It’s a great reminder of the mess Obama inherited vs the comparable Eden Trump I enheritied.
I wonder if any of you have the intellectual honesty to admit that?
#8 you are confusing intellectual honesty with intellectual curiosity. i would agree with you many I the left are too insular.
However its a bit telling that you don’t know what intellectual honesty is.
Sean
“Lefties accept reality when facts drag them kicking and screaming into the real world”
Says the guy who hides his head in the sand at every piece of evidence that shows you have been duped by Russian propaganda
littlelettermike, the fascist looked over the list of promises given by Obama at his convention acceptance speech for the nomination which I listed @ #9 above and replies with his version of intellectual honesty as follows:
•Yes, Obama succeeded in bring us together as one American family.
• Obama fixed the problems of veterans, stopped families from sliding into poverty kept all major American cities from decline.
• Families no longer have to worry about paying the mortgage and are bury saving for their child’s college education.
•••• and on and on and on.
littlelettermike, the fascist has not a scintilla of a clue concerning any concept underlying the actuality of intellectual honesty.
He reports that Obama inherited: “The country was in economic crisis, the military was bogged down in two wars and the whole country was full of economic worry.”
Then his intellectual honesty compels him to declare: “the comparable Eden Trump inherited.”
Obama increased the National debt by 86% or $9,300,000,000,000. As a consequence, all economic worry was vanquished and Trump inherited a comparable Eden.
Obama shot bin Laden and ISIS is just the J.V. team. Iran not only doesn’t have a nuke, they are comparable to doctors without borders and humanitarians with humility. North Korea is but a joke. Russia took the reset button and now are comparable to the International Red Cross. Millions and millions and millions of Americans have been able to leave the workforce and live happily ever after on welfare and entitlements.
Gosh, what a glorious eight years of progress, cure and rejuvenation. If Shrillay had only been elected, we would all be lolling about in the after Obama life in Ēlýsion. We had the brass ring and dropped it. Woe is us.
Helio
Failing to achieve a goal does not make one intellectually dishonest.
Not admitting obvious truths like “Trump inherited an economy much better than Obama inherited” does.
I thought you were smarter than that? I get why V doesn’t understand simple concepts. He is has proven himself to be a boob. But you I always kind of respected. I hope I don’t have to rethink that.
littlelettermike, the fascist you misunderstand …. BIG TIME :
It is not about Obama failing to fulfill his fatuous promises …. it is about you covering for everything and anything the Obamamessiah screwed up. It is you, boobus Americanus, who is intellectually
dishonestbankrupt.“…. it is about you covering for everything and anything the Obamamessiah screwed up”
When was that again?