<p>Flunked the bar exam???</p>
<p>As revealed in Carl Bernstein’s book.</p>
<p>Can this possibly be true? How was she able to hide it all these years?</p>
<p>Intelligence and content knowledge aren’t co-terminus.</p>
<p>Furthermore, does that say something about the exam and the body of knowledge upon which it is based?</p>
<p>Edit: Beaten to the punch by conyat on the crosspost.</p>
<p>Could you give us some more information on who this woman is, why she’s considered the smartest woman in the world, and under what circumstances she took the bar exam?</p>
<p>Apparently she flunked the D.C. exam and then took it in Arkansas (acknowledged as an easier exam) and passed.</p>
<p>Hillary Rodham Clinton.</p>
<p>Dang, hereshoping!! I thought you were posting a personal note to me with THAT title! ;)</p>
<p>oh my goodness!!!</p>
<p>she flunked a test!!! bring out the floogging machine</p>
<p>what to do, what to do,</p>
<p>I say we ground her…because no one ever fails taking the bar anywhere ever</p>
<p>Ah, got it. Of course, many very intelligent people do not pass the bar on their first try, particularly if they didn’t fully devote themselves to studying in the months before the exam.</p>
<p>yes and I bet HH has shared all her/his failures with all her friends as well, yepper, ever thing she bombed at, she shared</p>
<p>gosh, lets see, drunk driving and cocaine addiction, failing a test…hmmmmm</p>
<p>This was in Hillary’s autobiography back in 2003. There’s nothing particularly new about the revealation. Just the Freepers decide to juxtapose it with the “smartest woman in the world” thing.</p>
<p>The Bar exam in most states is very difficult and has been very difficult for many many years. However, usually a majority of those taking the exam pass it. If you asked me if someone with a Yale law degree would flunk the bar exam, I would tell you that would be unusual. I wonder what percentage of the of the students in her class passed the bar (of the various states) on the first try. I bet was a pretty high percentage. She probably wasn’t the brightest bulb at Yale.</p>
<p>well, from what I understand, there was a time when Bush didn’t pass (up) many bars at all</p>
<p>and from her bio:</p>
<p>“”But there it is on page 64 of Hillary’s own memoir, “Living
History”: her confession that she flunked the D.C. bar exam:
“I was lonely and missed Bill more than I could stand. I had taken
both the Arkansas and the Washington, D.C., bar exams during the
summer, but my heart was pulling me toward Arkansas. When I learned
that I had passed in Arkansas but failed in D.C., I thought that maybe
my test scores were telling me something.””</p>
<p>but I guess she should have put on her business card, failed bar exam…yeah that is what we do, instead postives on resumes, everyone has to write about all the tests, finals, how loong it took to write a thesis, low SAT scores</p>
<p>Yes, she failed the Bar…and she went to be with the man she loved, the horror, the horror</p>
<p>
Unfortunately, this makes her look like a weak woman who cannot take care of business because she is too emotional. If a male candidate wrote this about his wife/girlfriend, it think it would hurt his chances for President.</p>
<p>I think the people who think that it makes her look like that are already pre-disposed to find fault with her and would never vote for her anyway, so no great loss.</p>
<p>@ razorsharp #11: Yes, in states like NY it is incredibly difficult. My understanding is that she flunked the DC Bar exam. In DC – and this goes back a ways (which actually works because we’re talking about ancient history) – passing the bar exam used to (and might still) require nothing more than a decent, but not impressive, score on the multi-choice multistate portion of the exam. If you’ve got that multistate score, they don’t look at your essays. If you fall below the threshold, then they average the two scores from essays and multistate. It’s not like the New York State or California bar exams. It’s actually just one section – the easiest section – of the exams in those states. In all likelihood, it was part of the Arkansas bar, too. So passing the D.C. Bar needn’t have been an extra burden.</p>
<p>Still, she predates me and maybe it was different. And I agree with the overall premise that it’s hardly a scarlet letter. Some awesome legal minds have failed bar exams. But it’s still unusual when it happens and in her case, it’s surprising.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine who would change their vote based on this information. The stinging point is that she kept it hidden, apparently out of insecurity or an overpowering sense of pride. She’s a very secretive person is the message, not that she failed or that she’s dumb or intellectually flawed. That’s the point that might give potential supporters pause.</p>
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<p>You got me. I was ready for a wild and woolly debate about Marilyn vos Savant.</p>
<p>Maker, you make some good points, but if it had been me, I would not have disclosed it at all. Too embarassing. I don’t know that there would be any PUBLIC record of those who took and failed. If she sat next to someone who knew her and ratted her out that might be different.</p>
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<p>Some bar exams are tougher than others. But I can tell you that if I hadn’t gone through a bar exam prep course, I wouldn’t have passed the CA bar (and I attended one of CA top law schools).</p>
<p>One girl in my class at the law firm failed the CA bar on her first attempt. Like HRC, she had decided to take the bar exam in two different states–passed one, failed one. Retook the CA exam, passed and is now a founding partner in a law firm.</p>
<p>Not passing the DC bar exam on the first try is hardly the kiss of death.</p>
<p>Not really sure that HRC is the smartest woman in the world, though…I was thinking we were talking about Marilyn also.</p>
<p>I believe that approximately 35% fail the bar exam on the first try, in national figures, so it’s not exactly rare. I’m not sure what it matters at this stage of her life. She’s proven in many different ways that she is an intelligent, well-educated and successful woman.</p>
<p>Monica sniff “but I didn’t mean to break the law” sniff sniff Goodling passed the exam on her first try. Apparently there weren’t any questions about not acting as an agent of apartheid in your hiring practices on the government dime.</p>