THE DUTCHESS GETS RILED

Watching Hillary Clinton's flack, Howard Wolfson, try to handle Chris Matthews last night on Hardball made for a lot of grinding teeth at the dinner table, and it wasn't from eating raw vegetables. This flap was all over somebody -- David Geffen, a Hollywood suit -- who used to give money to the Clintons and is now giving money to Barak Obama (insult # 1), and who gave exceptionally good dish about the Clintons to Maureen Dowd of the NYTimes (insult # 2). Wolfson went on Hardball to lay down the law: "The Dutchess is mad as hell, and heads will roll!"

Gosh, it was embarrassing.

Like Hillary is some kind of brittle control freak who not only knows not how to apologize for the war vote but knows not how to laugh it off when a mere footman paints the roses white instead of red.

At times like this, the original Star Trek TV series offers perspective, if not consolation. "Ugly sacs of mostly water!" a long ago Trekkie alien correctly diagnosed human beings, and in that composition we all share alike, including senators from New York.