Quote of The Day: Hillary Clinton, "The Very Essence of Controversy"

University of Virginia's Larry Sabato, on the 2008 "presidential prizefight," at RealClearPolitics:

Sen. Clinton is the very essence of controversy, as she has just proven again
with her Martin Luther King Day race-card remark comparing the Republican-run
House of Representatives to a 'plantation.' Whatever her specific stands, she is
perceived, probably irrevocably, as a liberal by most Americans... and no matter
what people tell pollsters about their open-minded willingness to have a female
commander-in-chief, there could be a significant electoral cost on account of
gender bias. There are also personal adjectives imputed to Senator Clinton that
are unattractive, such as 'cold,' 'devious,' and 'harsh.' Maybe this portrait is
unfair, maybe it is untrue. But it is reality, and the reality will be ignored
by Democrats at their considerable peril.

This will never happen, but if the Democrats nominated Joe Lieberman or a moderate center-left Democrat governor, they'd probably win in 2008. A Clinton candidacy makes me wince over the unbridled nastiness that would pervade political discussion for at least a solid year.