RNC to play the "bitch" card against Clinton

Anybody waiting for the GOP to begin exhibiting signs of humanity and/or subtlety will have to wait awhile longer. The same way that Karl Rove telegraphed the Republican theme for the mid-term elections ("Democrats will let the terrorists kill your children"), Ken Mehlman has let us know how they plan to frame Hillary Clinton in '08: BITCH.

Mehlman cited the New York senator's remarks on Martin Luther King Day in which she called the Bush administration "one of the worst" in history and compared the Republican-controlled House to a plantation where opposing voices are silenced.

"I don't think the American people, if you look historically, elect angry candidates. And whether it's the comments about the plantation or the worst administration in history, Hillary Clinton seems to have a lot of anger," Mehlman told ABC's "This Week."

Nice, Ken. Way to be classy, big guy.

The GOP is going to try to make David Brooks' "real Americans" afraid of the angry, scary feminist. "How dare this 'angry' woman presume to think that somebody with a vagina could ever be president?" They will suggest. "Why does she have to be such a.... ?"

Of course, they won't actually use the word "bitch." At least most of them won't. Limbaugh can't seem to stop saying it. O'Reilly is probably already practicing just the right tone and inflection. And then, of course, there's Ann Coulter.

But, Mr. Mehlman has let us know that even those who don't use the word will be working hard to make sure everybody gets the point. Hillary Clinton is angry. Don't let angry, bitchy Hillary Clinton become president.

Frankly, this is dumb. I would have expected better from the crew that managed to paint a bona fide war hero as a coward. The strategy they employed against John Kerry had the benefit of being counterintuitive. They hit him on one of his main strengths and turned it into a weakness. Classic Rove. Worked like a charm.

Playing the "bitch" card against Hillary, though, is not terribly imaginative. The people who don't like her already think of her that way. The people who like her will see the tactic for what it is: misogynistic slander. The advantage of being a figure as polarizing as Senator Clinton is that there isn't a broad middle of the population whose opinions of you are open to persuasion.

If the GOP goes after Hillary in such a thuggish fashion, they will accomplish very little except to ramp up her sympathy factor while doing nothing to increase her negatives.

George W. Bush's mother issues notwithstanding, Republican men (even the gay ones, apparently) are afraid of strong women. This, too, is something that most people take for granted. Why the RNC would wish to call attention to this structural party defect is beyond me.

You think anger is a tough sell, Ken? I'm betting impotence is even tougher. Wait until Hillary paints her male GOP opponent as a sexually insecure sissy-boy who is afraid of girls. You think she can't land body blows? Where's Jeanine Pirro been lately?