How'd you like a "female trouble" where the sun don't shine?

This is what I'm talking about, people...

In a story posted on MSN here and entitled - of all things - Female Trouble? (don't you love that question mark?), John Mercurio suggests that Clinton is trying to justify her seeming failure this campaign season by blaming her gender. Allow me to quote Mercurio himself:

When political obituaries are written about Clinton’s campaign, supporters will try to make the case that, as a woman, she faced enormous — and ultimately insurmountable — hurdles. That’s partly true. Listen to any cable news talk-show anchor, if you can, and you’ll come to appreciate how fundamentally acceptable it still is to treat Clinton in a way few would dare discuss Obama. And yet, given the historic success that other women are enjoying at the ballot box this year, in competitive races against well-funded men, it’s hard to see how Clinton, given her own strengths, will be able to lay much blame for her imminent defeat on her gender.

This from a man who just titled his piece "Female Trouble?" Puh-leeze.

There are two things you can count on when you're arguing with people about politics in this country. The first: if you're debating gay marriage with someone, they will always pull out the goat card, as in "but if two men get married, then what's to stop a man from marrying a goat?" No straight for the throat will do here; it's always straight for the goat. The second: if you're debating women and political office - especially women and the presidency - someone will always pull out the uterus card, as in "a woman president? That's hysterical!"

This is, of course, exactly what Mercurio himself has done in an effort to simultaneously deny that the uterus card even exists. Fancy footwork there, Mercurio, but I'm on to you. Deniers need only reference the media's constant use of "Hillary" when referring to Clinton and "Senator Obama" when referring to Barack; or the dirty little snipes at Clinton's fat ankles and propensity for wearing pantsuits; or the hilarity with which the news that someone had stood up at a Clinton campaign event and yelled "Iron my shirt!" (try "Eat some watermelon! at an Obama event and see if it sounds as funny); or google the Hillary Clinton nutcracker with spikes between its thighs.

Female troubles? Yes, indeed. But not the kind that two aspirin will ever fix.

And for the record, the success of women in Congressional races - and gubernatorial races for that matter - offer little corollary to the office of the presidency, an office which has been traditionally masculinized in a way that the Senate or the state house never have. If the past hundred years have proven nothing else, it's that women's past success in Congress means bupkis when considering their future potential in the White House.