Oh, Hillary! - UPDATED with links

I haven't really waded into the race fot he Democratic presidential nominee because it's not really my fight. However, the fallout of Monday night's debate is quite humorous.

While most conservative commentators think Hillary Clinton performed the best, liberals and moderates have been hammering on her. If you don't want to read the article above, here's the basic recap: the other six candidates were going after Hillary (sort of; I'll get back to this in a moment). You think that's a good strategy, considering she has had a huge lead in the polls? Welcome to the party, guys. The other unsaid reasons to attack her during the debate are that (1) she always tries to have it both ways on any controversial issue and (2) she has lots of, um, baggage from her past.

Ever since she first ran for the Senate in New York in 2000, she has conspicuously avoided any tough interviews that would bring up these two themes. She hasn't even appeared on any Fox News Channel shows in who knows how long (if ever). That's fine; if the voters of NY don't care about that, that's their choice. Now that she's running for president, that's a much tougher proposition. She still won't do any tough interviews, though.

Which brings us to Monday's debate. The moderators (and especially Tim Russert) asked the candidates about their weak spots to see how they would respond. Because of (1) and (2) above, Russert had lots of material to work with. Faced with actual questions that are hard to answer, she didn't perform well. Her programmed answers made her look weak and indecisive, after which John Edwards and Chris Dodd attacked. For the first time in the campaign she was tested, and she didn't pass.

I mentioned Edwards and Dodd to point out that the rest of the candidates left Hillary alone, regardless of what her press releases said. Barack Obama very weakly criticized her. Bill Richardson was in full VP-audition mode and actually defended her a few times. Joe Biden was too long-winded to pounce, and Dennis Kucinich is so crazy that anything he'd say is considered a joke.

Here's some good stuff from the article. What's one way to spin it and fight back? To hide behind her skirt:

The criticisms followed Penn’s assertion that Clinton was “unflappable.” He also said criticisms from Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) would backfire and that he was already “detecting some backlash,” particularly among female voters.

Those female voters are saying, “Sen. Clinton needs our support now more than ever if we’re going to see this six-on-one to try to bring her down,” Penn told those on the campaign call.

...

“Some of you may have seen last night’s debate,” McEntee said. “Six guys against Hillary, and I’d call that a fair fight. This is a strong woman.”

..

The Clinton campaign released a video Wednesday, entitled “The Politics of Pile On,” showing clips of the senator’s rivals going after her by name during the debate.

If she can't stand up to the biggest phony in the race (Edwards), a mild-mannered guy (Obama), and a hack Senator (Dodd) without complaining, how is she going to face down Iran, Russia, and China?

As a final thought, here's a good line from Obama's spokeman:

In a memo from the Obama campaign, spokesman Bill Burton said Clinton “offered more of the same Washington political calculation and evasion that won’t bring the change America needs.”

“The ‘politics of hope’ doesn’t mean hoping you don’t have to answer tough questions,” Burton wrote.

UPDATE: Here's an excellent column by Jed Babbin that sums up my thoughts on Hillary's reaction to the debate.

UPDATE 2: Fred Barnes has an interesting take.