Nancy Covey, Las Vegas

Wed, Mar 26, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)

Maureen Dowd, a columnist for The New York Times, has made a career out of bashing the Clintons. In her commentary in Tuesday’s Las Vegas Sun, headlined “Clinton’s presidential candidacy just won’t die,” Ms. Dowd does a fine impersonation of the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz.”

One can envision her looking into her crystal ball and cackling: “Jimmy, Al and Nancy will get you, my pretty.” Then she rides off on her broom writing “Surrender, Hillary” across the sky.

While it may be true that Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi all have personal axes to grind with the Clintons, one can only hope they will be able to rise above past slights and petty differences in the interest of nominating the best-qualified and most electable Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.

If, as Ms. Dowd asserts, “Hillary’s fate falls into the hands of Jimmy, Al and Nancy” and “the Clinton chickens may come home to roost,” the only ones cackling will be Maureen Dowd and the Republican Party.

Quick! Can someone throw some water on Maureen Dowd? It would be a blessing for all Democrats if she simply melted into a pool of her own poison ink.