Polluting the Airwaves

According to a Washington Times/Fox poll, "Only 25 percent of voters said recent criticism of Mrs. Clinton constitutes piling on, the survey found, and of those, less than half said she was the target because she is a woman."

This column by onetime Dukakis campaign manager Susan Estrich is as much about her as Hillary:

"I am neither as successful as I wish I were, nor as good a mother as I'd like to be. I'm not as thin as I'd like, I don't work out as often as I should, my house is messy and worse. I don't even have a semi-adoring boyfriend. I'm in the middle of a fight with the unscrupulous rug cleaners who destroyed my living room carpet and floor . . .

"When Hillary is the perfect candidate, the superwoman in teflon, it's a little hard to connect. When she isn't, when she makes a mistake, takes a hit, when her face tells you she's ready to scream in frustration that the guys are never this tough on each other, a funny thing happens.

"She starts looking familiar. She becomes ones of us. Just another girl trying to make it in a world that wasn't made for her."

In media news, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for The Washington Post has apologized-- and been disciplined -- for sending an incendiary note to an aide to ex-mayor Marion Barry.

TPM's Greg Sargent goes to the videotape in challenging CNN:

"I'm not sure anyone could outdo this one in terms of, shall we say, 'creative' editing of quotes.

"CNN ran a report Friday afternoon with the headline: 'Record Anger At Congress.' The network quoted Nancy Pelosi agreeing with this thesis, saying:

" 'I know that Congress has low approval ratings. I don't approve of Congress because we haven't done anything.' . . .

"CNN clipped Pelosi's quote so that she was saying of the Dem Congress: 'We haven't done anything.' Anything at all. But Pelosi actually said that she was unhappy with Congress because we haven't done anything to end the Iraq War."

There's been a lot of talk about the possibility of a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton dynasty. But according to this Times of London piece, it may be more than just talk:

"Grover Norquist, one of America's most influential Republican activists, aims to turn the question of dynasty into a campaign issue.

" 'It will be ridiculous to have Mr. President and Madam President in the White House,' he said. 'We're the United States of America. How can we say to President Mubarak [of Egypt], "You can't hand off the presidency to your son, it's got to be your wife" or, "Hey Syria and North Korea, you've got to knock this stuff off and be like us".'

"Norquist has commissioned lawyers to draw up a constitutional amendment that would ban family members from succeeding one another to elected and appointed office. If passed, it would not apply to the Clintons as a Bush was elected in between them. But Norquist believes that it will alert voters to the perils of dynasty. 'Americans don't like to go back,' he said."

Sure, but don't Americans have the ability to vote against anyone who doesn't deserve the office, regardless of last name?

Megan Carpentier is the newest member of the Wonkette team. She says she has "virtually no qualifications for this job other than a bad attitude, a knowledge of politics and some basic computer skills." Carpentier was previously known as the Anonymous Lobbyist and says readers "may be shocked, SHOCKED, to find out that I fudged some personal details in the column." Oh, and she includes several provocative pictures of herself, including a couple in the bathtub (wearing a black dress with stiletto heels and wielding a cigarette-holder).