Pirro Accuses Hillary Of Pulling A Lott

Remember three years ago when Trent Lott said some complimentary things about the 1948 Dixiecrat presidential run of the late Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) at his hundreth birthday celebration? Remember how the Democrats blew it up into a huge national scandal that eventually cost Lott his Majority Leadership post?

Well, as you might have expected, the tactic doesn't work the same way in reverse:

New York Senate hopeful Jeanine Pirro is blasting 2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton for throwing a birthday party tonight for Ku Klux Klansman-turned-Senator Robert Byrd at the home of a civil rights pioneer.

"It's outrageous and shocking that Senator Clinton and her Democrat colleagues would choose Frederick Douglass' house to honor Senator Robert Byrd, who has a history of involvement with hate groups and has used racial slurs publicly," Pirro spokeswoman Andrea Tantaros told the Associated Press.

"Any person who has made racially insensitive comments and participated in groups that promote ethnic prejudice - Republican or Democrat - does not deserve support from a United States senator, especially the senator from New York, at a landmark that is so cherished by those who respect and honor racial equality," Pirro's spokeswoman added.

And Medusa's bland, indirect reply?

Mrs. Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, defended her tribute to the longtime racist, saying Pirro's criticism was off base.

"Sadly, Ms. Pirro continues to wage a campaign of insults and attacks instead of offering New Yorkers a positive agenda," he said, without explaining why Mrs. Clinton was honoring the one-time nightrider.

Gee, didn't Ms. Pirro make a maximally public point of disavowing "insults and attacks" not too long ago? See how Mrs. Clinton is turning that back against her?

And of course, we all know what Hillary considers to be a "positive agenda." Why Ms. Pirro should want to "offer New Yorkers" an echo instead of a choice is yet another of life's intractible mysteries.

Not that it would make any difference a year from now. Which is why Pirro is already bailing like there's no tomorrow.

Is it too late to draft Rudy?