Hil's Bitter Pill.

OK, so I'm no fan of Hillary Clinton's candidacy -- at the least the way she has executed it. But the beating she's taking in the press (during this 17-second news cycle) for her RFK assassination remark reminds me, for maybe the third time today, of why we need a press corps that dares to cover public politics (as in positions) instead of mere personal politics (as in personal screw-ups, styles, and offenses).

Yes, evoking a massively tragic assassination to make the point that California primaries matter ranks pretty high for stupidity, selfishness, and insensitivity. If my last name were Kennedy, I'd be staring at the wall and asking myself how Clinton ended up entirely devoid of the shame gene. But it's not as if she said that Hitler was destined to usher Jews to Israel. It's pretty clear that, in her own tactless way, she was trying to say that some pretty heavy contenders have cast their lot in the California primary over the years.

The irony here -- and it's a real gender-stereotype-buster -- is that husband Bill would never have said such a thing in such a way. Why? Because he's, well, a sensitive enough politician to know that it would sound icy and unfeeling. Now, bear in mind, we're talking about the guy who hyped NAFTA and who high-fived "welfare reform." For Hillary to look soulless by comparison is just damned depressing.

Former Congressperson Pat Schroeder spoke ruefully, and I think rightly, on NPR the other day about how flagrant sexism is one of the last widely permissible forms of bigotry in American media, and how this has hurt Hillary Clinton. True, sadly. Just as sad, though, is the fact that people's hopes for the first female president have been pinned on a candidate with such a poor history on the issues and such a shortage of political humanity.