March 20, 2015

"We really need camps for adults," said Hillary Clinton.

 "None of the serious stuff... I think we have a fun deficit in America."

To be fair: she was speaking to the American Camp Association of New York and New Jersey’s Tri-State CAMP Conference. What do you expect her to say?

IN THE COMMENTS: The terms "re-education camps" and "concentration camps" pop up.

73 comments:

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I assume the focus would be on re-education?

Oso Negro said...

Yes! Camps will help people get their minds right!

harrogate said...

"Fun deficit." That's a well-played term.

Larry J said...

Bread and circuses while the republic crumbles.

Mr Wibble said...


To be fair: she was speaking to the American Camp Association of New York and New Jersey’s Tri-State CAMP Conference. What do you expect her to say?


That camps serve a valuable purpose in providing children with social and physical activities in a safe environment and that more parents should send their children to summer camp?

Instead she went down a path of statist fantasy. She didn't have to, but she did.

Laslo Spatula said...

Would this have counted?

Because that is what came to mind. For me, at least.

Because.

I am Laslo.

tim in vermont said...

Re-education camps is no-doubt what she has in mind ;)

It's a joke, or as they would say in OZ, a joyke.

campy said...

Too bad there's no opposition party that can possibly defeat her.

traditionalguy said...

Yes, Camps everywhere. They will aid in concentrating surplus people so they can be selected by the Camp Panel for ending their useless co2 gas emissions that have no purpose and actually threaten Wall Street Taipans' idea of fun with their selected nubile young females.

We have not seen such fun since the Roman Emperors used the Empire as their own Camp.

Laslo Spatula said...

When I was a kid the POW camps in "Hogan's Heroes" looked like great fun. Tunnels!

I am Laslo.

Curious George said...

"...Clinton bemoans the loss of civility in politics."

As the wolf bemoans the loss of sheep.

Shanna said...

What do you expect her to say?

Literally anything other than this.

Peter said...

Yes, it is difficult to think of a Hillary-run camp as anything other than a KZ.

MayBee said...

There are camps for adult, no?

Camping places, Dude ranches, white water rafting get aways, church camps, sailing schools, fishing trips, cruises.

It makes me sad she thinks there is a fun deficit. There is always fun to be had.

dbp said...

We expect Hillary to pander and she meets our expectations.

MAJMike said...

Reeducation camps, perhaps?

Jane the Actuary said...

On the one hand: yes, it's silly. In the first place, there actually are "family camps" -- that is, both the Boy Scouts and the Christian summer camp I attended as a child offer weeks or weekends where families can stay at their facilities, in cabins, with meals on their own or purchased at the dining hall, and participate in the same kinds of activities (riding horses, target-shooting, crafts, etc.), or send the kids to supervised activities for part of the day.

Oh, and adults generally don't need "camps" because, well, they're adults. They don't need adult supervision to leave their homes for a week, nor is it an important life skill for them to learn to be away from their parents. But plenty of adults can and do choose to go camping with their families, all on their own. Sorry, Hillary, if you've never heard of this.

On the other hand: yes, she was the featured speaker, and needed to earn her fee by saying something other than just the same "camping is great for kids, and what a bonus to get the kids out of mom and dad's hair for a week."

But, on the (third?) hand, the perceived need to say something "clever" doesn't justify saying something stupid.

And: Kraft durch Freude, anyone?

dbp said...

Hillary Clinton likes the idea of "...camps for adults," according to Newsday.

Her idea is that it would be a way to force people to listen to each other. I think a better idea would be to use it as a way to help us all focus a bit better. With our hectic life-styles and so many issues competing for our limited attention, we need a camp to help us gain the patience to really think hard on one issue at a time.

I'm just throwing out names here, but how does "Concentration Camp" sound?

Anonymous said...

Will she put Elizabeth Warren in charge of coming up with fake Indian names for the camps?

Anonymous said...

Hello mudda, hello fadda, here I am at Camp Whitewadda...

Bill Peschel said...

New Yorkers are already paying for day care for adults (we learned that today), so why not summer camps?

They could offer computer programming for all those adults who were replaced with Indians under the expanded visa program.

Makes sense.

clint said...

Club Med.

Carnival Cruises.

Las Vegas.

MAJMike said...

Strength Through Joy camps?

Its been done.

James Pawlak said...

In communist nations they call them "REEDUCATION CAMPS".

Fen said...

Yah, Leftists should really avoid advocating "camps"

Hillary. Still not ready for prime time.

It astonishes me that the Dems are nominating the wife of an impeached president. That's the only woman they could find?

rehajm said...

clint said...
Club Med.

Carnival Cruises.

Las Vegas.


Think she meant more like...

The Point

The Ranch at Rock Creek

Blackberry Farm

or most likely this one

damikesc said...

For $200,000, she should be waxing some impressive prose.

Yeah, how much do you think the media will mention her speaking fees while she lambastes the GOP as a party for the rich?

And having a red and blue camp coming together and listening to each other? I'd buy that...if it was not from HER. When was the last time she listened to anybody who wasn't a lackey of hers?

Titus said...

She should go away and just continue to make speeches for $300,000. I can't understand why a company would find her so interesting to pay her that much.

It would be cool if she decided not to run...much more interesting.

On a side not I dislike fellow workers signing their emails with one letter of their first name like....t.

Another employee, who is a physicist signs his name _phil...what the hell does that mean?

Original Mike said...

Will there be trains to take us to the camps? Trains are fun.

garage mahal said...

Not sure if we necessarily need camps for kids. But we definitely need camps for conservatives.

rehajm said...

When I went to camp as a kid we got to shoot guns. Will we get to shoot guns at the camps?

Lefties hate guns but the love love love shooting them!

Anonymous said...

Bill will lead the nightly panty raids on the girls' camp. Al Gore will run the snobby rich-kids' camp on the other side of the lake.

tim in vermont said...

.Clinton bemoans the loss of civility in politics.

There was much civility in politics as long as Republicans were content to lose all the time. Once Newt came along and the GOP became an actual threat to Democrat power, that's when civility ended.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I think we have a fun deficit in America."

Easy: have the Treasury print more 'fun'. That seems to work.

I am Laslo.

tim in vermont said...

. But we definitely need camps for conservatives.

Careful garage, liberals joking about this is kind of like Obama joking about auditing his "enemies."

campy said...

liberals joking about this is kind of like Obama joking about auditing his "enemies."

If you mean both jokes have considerable upside and no downside, you're right.

tim in vermont said...

Well, they also betray hidden desires.

Charlie Currie said...

The irony of a regressive like Hillary, queen bee of the fun-sucker (ht P J O'Rourke) party, telling us we have a fun deficit...liberals have been sucking the fun out of daily life for decades...if not centuries...these are the people who ban sledding on Capitol Hill...I'm 68 years old and nearly everything I did as a kid would now land my parents in jail, or have me removed from the home, for child neglect or abuse.

Jane the Actuary said...

I've read two articles about the now, which seem to conflict. Did she say we need adult camps because we have a "fun deficit" or because we need to re-educate idealogue (always GOP) politicians by forcing them to play with Democrats?

Sebastian said...
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Sebastian said...
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Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps every breakfast conversation is about race.

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps a favorite craft is How To Set Up Your Own Home Server in No Time.

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps you won't need photo ID.

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps you can compete every evening in a fun game of Drink Hillary! Under the Table.

Unknown said...


Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is great blog. A great read. I will certainly be back.

Chris N said...

Maybe she's trying to stay relevant with the base.

If Obama can't steer the country via legislation, he'll do so by executive order, so I'm guessing he'll aim to bring his activist concerns front and center in the party as his time winds down.

The guy believes in so much change that he started 'Organizing For Action' while in office, for cripe's sake.

In some ways Im rooting for...gulp...Hillary, or perhaps some other less 'progressive' candidate should they appear.

Big Mike said...

My two takeaways from this episode are (1) for all the money she's raised, Hillary apparently doesn't know how to hire good speechwriters, and (2) there's no one on her staff who can look at a speech, predict the consequences of various phrases and ask Hillary "do you really want to say that?" Anyone who votes for her is voting for a very poor manager and poor assembler of a support staff. Which has to be the foremost quality for any president.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Hillary belongs in a federal maximum security camp.

Hunter said...

Camp is very... educating
And they say things will be great once Hillary's reigning.

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps you can bring as many bimbos as you like.

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps you check your privilege at the door.

Levi Starks said...

I have my own camp, 27 acres on top of Tatum Sauk Mtn, the highest point on MO.
When the government decides it's essential that everyone will camp eventually, I'm hoping I will meet the governments standards, and I will be able to avoid the camping shared responsibility tax penalty. But I'm not counting on it. When I was on my 8 mile run this morning I couldn't help thinking about vast majority of Americans who give little or no thought as to their health and fitness. Many through either inactivity, or downright bad choices will require great amounts of healthcare. And yet somehow I'm supposed to feel the need to share the responsibility for it.
Whenever a politician sees a "need" they see a government program which will fill that need. And the government will find it necessary to use other people's money (mine) to fund it. I'm sick and tired of it.
I'm perfectly happy to let people make their own decisions, and suffer/benefit from the result.
Call me crazy, but I think that's what the framers of the constitution intended.

Dan Hossley said...

Bill Clinton has his own version of "fun camp" and he has been going to it for years.

AllenS said...

When Bill Clinton goes to camp, his favorite game is Hide the Cigar.

Fernandinande said...

Hello Muddah, hello Fadduh.
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining,
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.

I went hiking with Joe Spivy.
He developed poison ivy.
You remember Leonard Skinner...
He got ptomain poisoning last night after dinner.

All the counselors hate the waiters,
And the lake has alligators,
And the head coach wants no sissies,
So he reads to us from something called "Ulysses".

Unknown said...

It is amazing to watch HRC self-destruct before the campaign even starts. She looked physically ok at her disastrous presser but I have to wonder about her health after the dismal performance.

Jeb Bush is also running down a ruinous path as he insults potential voters and runs far to the left of an GOP primary candidate in recent memory. e.g. the refusal to sign the "no tax increase pledge."

Anonymous said...

Maybe she's trying to stay relevant with the base.

There may be something to that. This is the same party that introduced the concept of the 26-year-old child.

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps top prize is your own personal reset button.

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps the archery target is a big O.

pst314 said...

It takes a village to raise an adult?

Sammy Finkelman said...

Hillary Clinton's strategy seems to be to pretend that nobody ever heard of her before.

Sydney said...

The Clinton Camps would be the Chatauqua Institute and, of course, the Vineyard.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

I worry that this fun deficit is the new missle gap. And say, just exactly how is fun distributed these days, anyway? Better bankroll a study or two.

Quaestor said...

Althouse wrote: To be fair: she was speaking to the American Camp Association of New York and New Jersey’s Tri-State CAMP Conference. What do you expect her to say?

Hillary gets $30K per gig. At that rate one could at least expect wit.

"I think we have a fun deficit in America." Wow. I mean, like wow. If the average attendee at that conference gave a moment's reflection on expensive banality, do you think there'd be a riot?

Suppose they spent 30 grand on the catering and got peanut butter on saltines for their money, do you suppose a court action would be in the cards?

Sebastian said...

At Hillary!'s Fun Adult Camps the camp song is set to the theme from Deliverance.

Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Quaestor said...

Drudge is running a photo of Hillary's putative pinch-hitter Martin O'Malley dressed in shorts and flip-flops, and wielding a five-string banjo like a rapier.

Shorts.

I'm waiting for the Althouse roundhouse. Got my popcorn ready.

Ambrose said...

Good morning Campers! I'm your Uncle Ernie and I'd like to welcome you to Tommy's holiday camp.....

Joe said...

The joys of projection. Maybe if she spent more time blowing her husband...

kzookitty said...

"So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt?"

kzookitty

dbp said...

Titus asked:

"I can't understand why a company would find her so interesting to pay her that much."

I doubt many find her interesting but there is a signaling value in being able to draw such a big and expensive name. Also, it is a legal way to give money to a woman who may gain a lot of power soon.

ken in tx said...

I suspect Hillary wouldn't really use camps. She was just pandering to her audience, as AA said. People would just be disappeared instead. The Chilean generals found that it was best not to have camps. Amnesty International gets involved and the Red Cross wants to visit them, if you have camps.