Hillary Chuckles; Pundits Snort

"Like all aspects of the Clinton campaign," writes Slate's John Dickerson, "there's sexism in the giggle critique: Women can only laugh in certain preapproved ways. Historically, men have categorized women's laughter as a way to diminish them -- they either cackle like a witch, or they titter like a schoolgirl."

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Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi said Hillary Clinton's male opponents are seizing on the sound: "Any woman who has ever been the only female in the room knows the guys are always waiting for that perfect moment -- the one that makes the woman look silly, stupid, weepy or best of all, witchy."

The Hillary humor issue first surfaced soon after she announced her candidacy in January, when Clinton drew laughter by telling an Iowa salesman who asked about her capacity to handle the world's evildoers: "What in my background equips me to deal with evil and bad men?''

"You guys!'' she told reporters after being repeatedly quizzed about the line. "I thought I was funny. You guys keep telling me, lighten up, be fun. Now I get a little funny, and I'm being psychoanalyzed.''

Much of the critical buzz has come from liberal commentators, who are using the laugh as a metaphor for the candidate's persona.

"The Clinton campaign's method for heeding the perennial complaints that its candidate comes across as too calculating and controlled is to periodically toss in a smidgen of what it deems personality. . . . Now Mrs. Clinton is erupting in a laugh with all the spontaneity of an alarm clock buzzer," writes New York Times columnist Frank Rich.

Time magazine's Joe Klein sees "a major media style-assault on the senator," writing: "Yes, the laugh is awkward (when staged) and yes, her campaign is focus-grouped up the wazoo. But then, so is Obama's and the campaigns of all the other candidates flush enough to hire political consultants."

Lest anyone think this amounts to harmless high jinks, Slate's Dickerson used his column to deliver a blunt warning:

"If bwah-ha-ha is a strategy, an aide should stop it now, before someone gets hurt."

Or maybe he was joking.