9/19/00 10:05 a.m.
Some Very Gray Ladies
Gail Collins and Maureen Dowd are in a tizzy.

Robert A. George is an editorial page writer
for the New York Post------------------------------------RAGGEDmail@aol.com

eeking a portrait of women on the verge of a nervous breakdown?  One need only turn to the New York Times op-ed page.  Apologies in advance to those who believe the following comments will be perceived as sexist.  However, in the wake of the Lazio-Clinton debate, one can only honestly say that Gail Collins and Maureen Dowd are in a tizzy.

On Friday, Collins wrote, "Rick Lazio, the New York Senate Republican nominee, was supposed to be the likable candidate. Then this week, at a debate in Buffalo, the Congressman morphed into a political predator."

Sunday, Dowd followed up with, "Hillary got into the New York race because of one badly behaved man. Now she may win it because of another badly behaved man."

All this is derived from whether Rick Lazio "invaded Hillary's space" by leaving his podium and declaring that she sign a pledge foreswearing the use of soft-money. Now, as far as conservatives go, Lazio's stunt was just that — a stunt. But the candidate is being coached by Mike Murphy, late of the McCain campaign, and the Arizona Senator's belief that soft money is the root of all evil has clearly rubbed off on Lazio. But, here, the central issue is Hillary's credibility. Lazio's most recent round of ads in New York end with the tagline: "Hillary Clinton. You just can't trust her." In that sense, Lazio's stunt was effective.

But now come the cries of the offended distaff punditocracy. Dowd remains the somewhat fairer of the two columnists, accurately pointing out the machinations of the state Democratic party and various elected officials (Rep. Charles Rangel in particular) in trying to parlay the public sympathy toward Hillary Clinton into electoral support for her Senate race. The truth is that the First Lady was never so popular as at the height of the impeachment drama. But, as the memory of that time has faded, Hillary's numbers have plunged. She hasn't hit 50 percent in more than a year.

Dowd rightly notes that Hillary's fortunes rise and fall with the perception that she is a victim. But then Dowd turns around and makes a link between Lazio's "bad behavior" and Bill Clinton's. Now, let's get this straight. The act of walking across a stage and putting apiece of paper down on a podium and asking that a woman sign it is the equivalent of a 50-something "chief executive" having his way with a 21-year old intern — and then serially lying about it?  Oh, right, that's exactly the same. 

Dowd concludes, "The Whitewater report of Robert Ray, who eagerly stepped into Ken Starr's Torquemada slippers, is due out soon. Who knows? If Hillary's luck holds, it will be the October surprise she needs to cinch the women's vote. One more brute slapping her around and she may be home free."

Ah, Lazio's just another "brute."

If possible, Collins is even worse. "People, how many times do we have to point out that women do not like men who yell?" Lazio was yelling? I must have missed that one.

What's interesting here is how the Grey Ladies seem happy to buy into the implicit reverse-sexism at play here. Let's ask this question:  If a man went over to another man and demanded that he sign a pledge, would he have been accused of being a "predator"?"  If it had been two women, what would the reaction have been? Is Lazio out-of-bounds because he didn't treat Hillary Clinton "like a lady?"

  Interestingly, a Daily News poll taken two days after the debate found the public evenly split as to whether Lazio was "too aggressive" or aggressive as needed.  The same poll found that the basic dynamics of the race were unchanged: Hillary leads 48%-43% with 9% undecided. So, Mrs. Clinton is still under 50 percent and Lazio is still introducing himself to many New Yorkers.  Not a bad position for Lazio.

Truthfully, neither Lazio nor Hillary can completely ignore gender issues in this race. Lazio doesn't want to make the First Lady look like a victim. But at the same time, Mrs. Clinton also knows that — as liberal as New York is perceived — the Empire State has never elected a woman statewide running alone (i.e. not as a lieutenant governor candidate running with a male candidate at the top of the ticket). No one knows why that is, but it's still a hurdle to overcome. Thus, Mrs. Clinton can't rely too heavily on the victim card.

Whether this race is going to look like the presidential race is open to debate, but it is definitely going to go down to the wire. Hopefully, Gail and Maureen will keep themselves under control in the meantime.