Starring Maureen Dowd As Blanche Maxwell

Maureen O'Dowd has been re-reading Gone With The Wind, or she is preparing material for Don Imus's triumphant return to radio, or both:

[Senator Clinton] has continued to flick the whip in debates. She usually ignores Obama and John Edwards backstage, preferring to chat with the so-called second-tier candidates. And she often looks so unapproachable while they're setting up on stage that Obama seems hesitant to be the first to say hi.

With so much at stake, she had to do it again in Vegas, this time using her voice, gaze and body language to such punishing effect that Obama looked as if he had been brought to heel.

Of course, the Las Vegas debate was where Obama said, "What the American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions and that is not what we've seen out of Senator Clinton on a host of issues." But the facts don't coincide with MoDo's gin-soaked Mandingo fantasies, so the facts must yield to the fantasy.

And, yes, I'm saying MoDo is a racist. Just because she's a half-wit and tries to couch her vile views in some pathetic sexual metaphor doesn't mean she's not a bigot.

I don't think this particular Dowd dump will gain too much traction, though, as it would require Russert and his fellow G.O.P. operatives (both in and out of the media) to explain why they know so much about dominatrixes. They'll just stick with the McCain-approved "bitch."