Femme Fatale

"It wasn't just an offhand comment: On Clinton's Web site, her campaign -- once again complaining that John Edwards and Barack Obama have abandoned the 'politics of hope' -- says that Clinton emerged from Tuesday night's 'pile-on' as 'one strong woman.'

"Clinton strategist Mark Penn predicted last month that as many as 24 percent of Republican women nationwide might 'defect' from their party to cast their votes for Clinton, and Clinton herself has worked hard to woo female voters in her own party. So maybe the post-debate spin is just another entirely appropriate step in that process.

"But imagine for a moment that it was Barack Obama who stumbled in the face of criticism and pointed questions Tuesday night. Would his campaign dare to declare that it was 'ultimately five whites and a Hispanic against him, and he came off as one strong black man'? And how would America be feeling about him today if it did?"

Time's Joe Klein isn't getting out his hanky:

"I'm not sure that if you're 'not running as a woman' the first thing to do when attacked is to say, 'The guys are ganging up on me!' Boo-hoo.

"She has every right to keep her private White House correspondence with Bill private, and should have said so. Or perhaps, 'I'll lay out all my private correspondence if the rest of you will lay out yours. Fair's fair.' "

The right is in mocking mode, as exemplified by this Red State post by Erick Erickson:

"Damn Tim Russert. He actually asked tough questions of Hillary Clinton in the debate Monday night. And now, Hillary's campaign is on the attack.

"This is all part of Hillary's Victorian Campaign Strategy. You know the one. She is to be seen and heard, but not 'listened to.' You are to presume that she is a dainty, delightful creature with pleasant opinions acceptable enough to be welcomed into polite society, but never you ask her tough policy questions, that would be cruel, offensive, and impolite.

"And so Hillary Clinton seeks to have it both ways. A strategy we all knew was coming because of what happened to Rick Lazio when he ran against Clinton for the U.S. Senate in 2000. Lazio walked across the stage, dared to one up Mrs. Bill Clinton, and the media had a field day. Hillary Attacked! read the headline. 'How *dare* Rick Lazio do that. She's a woman! This is mental, verbal rape! *And* it's the FIRST lady!', the left wing pundits in the New York Times sneered.

"And now Tim Russert has done it too . . . Tim Russert roughed up a girl, is the spin. He dared to ask the front runner who leads by a wide margin tough questions. And she's a girl. That's unfair."

The left, meanwhile, is on an anti-Russert jag, such as Kos poster Alegre: "I never expected to see the moderator go after her in such a vicious and unbalanced manner. He's supposed to be a journalist for cryin' out loud."