Hillary Clinton and the Squirrel Trap

I think the Hillary Clinton handled her recent run-in with a detractor--in the form of a GOP staffer in a squirrel costume, with a certain amount of grace for a person put in an awkward situation. I don't think there is any political handbook that can tell you how to deal with Very Large Squirrels. What I think the furry visitor from a far-flung limb was mostly conveying was "had a squirrel costume left over from the ACORN scandal", but more to the point, there's that one little word on his shirt--

"Nuts".

The art of the heckler is to put a performer off of his or her game. I don't believe one dons a rodent costume to address serious issues, but to heckle, with the plan of eliciting a response in mind. I just have a feeling that any flare of frustration or annoyance from Clinton will be judged differently from a similar show of emotion from any of her possible competitors. It's part of the reason I am particularly contemptuous of Karl Rove's allegation that her fall of about a year and half ago has left her somehow mentally unfit, an allegation that he seems to be doubling down on. Ah--but with a twist--Clinton is "thin-skinned" if she pushed back on his nonsense. Even though it would seem to be a natural thing to want to do.

So here is what I'm seeing: an audit will be made of Clinton's emotions and her inner life.  And by turns, she may be judged as emotional or strident or even "shrill" when she pushes back, and either weak, fragile and over-managed if she doesn't. Not in a transparently sexist way, mind you. It's just, you know. Is she quite all right? Which I find galling, when, from all I can see, she certainly is.