Last night on CNN, longtime Clintonista Paul Begala brought up the "b" word in his analysis of Sarah Palin's speech. He basically said, he wouldn't use the word because it was "outrageous and sexist" when people used it against Hillary Clinton but Palin gave a "tough speech."
In other words, he was bringing up the slur and using it in the context of a "tough speech" without saying it explicitly.
By the way can you remember a single person EVER suggesting Hillary Clinton was a "b" ON THE AIR? The Clinton team went bonkers when the Washington Post wrote a Style section article about her peekaboo cleavage on the Senate floor and unleashed on MSNBC when David Schuster said the campaign was "pimping" out Chelsea.PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I think we have to be careful of the right-wing, politically correct, police editing our language. There are some words that are off limits like the "B" word which was used against Hillary Clinton frequently on this and other networks, and I think that was outrageous and sexist.
But it was a tough speech. I mean earlier, Alex Castellanos, I think, a fan of Governor Pail, said she gave the most macho speech of the convention. Now I don't think he really means that she's not a fully feminine woman. My goodness, she's a mother of five.
But I think we got to be very careful, though. The McCain campaign, after 15 or 20 years of being the darling of the media, has decided now they're going to go to war with the media, and I think they've won the first battle tonight if we're going to start toning back our analysis of Governor Palin's very tough speech because they're attacking her.
Those items are nothing compared to what her own staffers are using against Sarah Palin now.