Wake up! Is this Cloud-Cuckoo-Land?

When 36 hours later Letterman was rushed into heart surgery for a quintuple-bypass operation, the first thing that popped into my mind was Theresa Russell's steely line to Debra Winger in that superb film "Black Widow" (1987): "She mates, and then she kills." My second thought was "Malocchio!" -- meaning Hillary has the evil eye, that bane of the ancient and modern Mediterranean world. Yes, yes, I know Letterman's check-up was pre-arranged and his heart condition chronic, but it's still a hell of a coincidence that emergency hospitalization followed one touch of the red queen's lips.

The Buffalo, N.Y., radio host who caused a huge stir the following week by asking Hillary about her rumored affair with Vincent Foster was blunderingly inept, since what Hillary does need to be pursued about is not her undoubtedly uninteresting romantic past but her trail of professional disasters -- of which her confidant Foster's still-unexplained ritual hara-kiri, following flaming administration screw-ups with Travelgate and Waco, was a prime example.

Rod Dreher's litany in the Jan. 25 New York Post had a refreshing, hard-edged sanity. "When are you going to apologize to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy?" he rhetorically asked Hillary, as he pointed out that Monica Lewinsky's soiled dress "ultimately proved nearly everything the president's alleged enemies charged."

"What about Filegate?" Dreher went on. "Sworn testimony" about the 900 private FBI files illicitly obtained by the White House suggests that "the first lady played a key role in ordering the Nixonian violation of privacy": "Hillary wants her privacy respected, yet there's reason to believe she cared nothing for the privacy of her presumed political adversaries."

And then there's the subpoenaed billing records for the Madison Guaranty Trust that "mysteriously disappeared" and resurfaced at a legally opportune moment two years later in a room off Hillary's White House study. Of Hillary's demand to be "judged on my own merits," Dreher said, "Well, what has she done in public life that didn't depend on her husband's power and place?" Not only did she stand by her man "as he harassed or carried on with other women," but she "defended him as his henchmen then tried to destroy those women's reputations when they dared to speak out." Well put!

Salon reader Tom Ivancie contributes this remarkable letter:

It was recently reported that Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie was busted for fare dodging on the London tube. She said she was running late for work and didn't have enough fare in her pocket, so she sneaked aboard. When reporters caught wind, she described the whole experience as embarrassing.

Think about it for a moment: the wife of the British Prime Minister is taking public transportation to work as a lawyer! What's more she is pregnant with her fourth child! Contrast this to Hillary the Duchess, as you call her: a woman who has never succeeded in any job glides around in limousines and is surrounded by a deep protective layer of aides and Secret Service agents.

Camille, while I know you are no fan of Tony Blair, I would love to see you do a comparison and contrast of these two women. In my view, Cherie, a practicing Roman Catholic, is the true proto-feminist. She also appears to have a humility and grace you don't find in public figures and celebrities anymore. I find it intriguing that she has a successful career, a very sweet almost self-effacing public demeanor, and an obvious sex life with her powerful husband in contrast to our cold and arrogant First Lady.

There's nothing I can add, Mr. Ivancie, to your splendid comparison, which I'm sure will fascinate Salon readers across the political spectrum. James M. Downs writes from Los Angeles:

I'd just love to hear your opinion on Hillary Clinton's nauseating tale about how shaking Martin Luther King's hand changed her life, and how Dr. King inspired Hillary to "a life of public service." I don't know what annoys me more, Hillary's shamelessly parasitic venture into Al Sharpton's HQ, wherein an anti-Semitic speech warmed up the audience, or the fact that I am still waiting for this alleged "public service." From everything I've seen from Hillary's résumé, she's performed about as much public service as Marie Antoinette.

Hillary's frosty, distant demeanor reminds me of the Northern abolitionists of the 19th century -- all for equal rights, but God forbid she actually had to be near all those black people when they are freed. I mean, can you actually see Queen Hillary mingling with blacks if a TV camera weren't around?

And this notion of public service is laughable. HRC advanced her career on her husband's coattails and has never been elected to public office in her life. Her idea of public service seems to be making a fortune off of land deals and throwing spoils to her Arkansas cronies (as in the travel office scandal).

Yes, Mr. Downs, the media gave Hillary a free pass on her pious Martin Luther King Day claim that King's handshake transformed her as a teenager. The most obvious riposte was to ask why, then, did Hillary energetically campaign afterward for archconservative Republican Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race? Doesn't it look like King's impact was to drive her away from African-Americans and their concerns?

Next Page: Hillary's arrogant rudeness

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