Slicing and Dicing a Newspaper

Hey, I just found this on the NYT blog: "Senator Barack Obama is accusing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of waiting until she was a presidential candidate to suggest that the North American Free Trade Agreement --- enacted during her husband's administration --- was a mistake."

Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi spanks McCain for failing to challenge the woman who described Hillary with the B-word:

"What if the woman who questioned McCain used a racial or religious epithet to frame the query? Would it still be an excellent question and its phrasing none of his business?

"It's hard to imagine McCain offering a similar rationale if the questioner used a racial slur to describe Barack Obama. Some lines can't be crossed. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had to defend himself after he called Obama 'the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.' Biden's comment was parsed for racial insensitivity.

"But the witch factor is a valid line of attack against the only female in the presidential race. Opponents may be counting on it, more than waffling, to surface as Clinton's ultimate vulnerability in the race to the White House.

"It's no coincidence that Clinton's laugh is routinely described as a cackle. Earlier this fall, the Drudge Report featured an image of her dressed as a witch."

And for a completely different perspective, we turn to Sherry Argov, author of "Why Men Marry Bitches":

"You know what we need in the White House? A bitch.

"We need a bitch facing down terrorists, Iran and Congress. A bitch to order around the Joint Chiefs of Staff. . . . "My advice for Hillary Clinton? Take it as a compliment."

The Hillary and Obama camps really got worked up over this strange little item in Robert Novak's weekend column:

"Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed."

And what exactly is the reason for reporting it when you don't know what it is, assuming there is an it?