I'm traveling today and may not be able to post. But don't worry nothing that happens in Kentucky or Oregon today will change anything. In fact, what I wrote below will only be more relevant, as Hillary Clinton moves (or is pushed) toward the moment when she will have to realize her dream is over (at least for now). With only two small states--Montana and South Dakota--and Puerto Rico left, what can she hope for? Not much, except a bolt out of the blue that renders Barack Obama undeniably unelectable. Her campaign is now a faith-based endeavor. She and her supporters (see below) ought to get on with the uncomfortable exercise of dealing with reality.

Okay, we have a new meme: women supporting Hillary Clinton are so pissed off they will not vote for Barack Obama in the fall against John McCain. The Washington Post gives this narrative front-page oomph with a story that focuses on several angry Democratic women voters--that is, three--including one who vows to vote for McCain instead of Obama. Anecdotal evidence aside, the story refers to a recent Post/ABC News poll that found that a quarter of Clinton supporters said they will vote for McCain over Obama (and a similar number of Obama supporters said they would do the same if Clinton won the nomination).

My hunch is that the passions--and acrimony--will cool down in the months ahead. But it's clear that there's been a messy patch of bad feelings generated on both sides of the black-versus-woman Democratic contest. (The Post recently reported on the blatant racism encountered by Obama campaign workers on the ground.) But these Democratic women who are disappointed that HRC will not become the breaker of the ultimate glass ceiling are going t have to get over it. The obvious point is, do they want to vote for a guy who will appoint Supreme Court justices likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, who recently voted against a bill that would remove restrictions on a woman's right to bring an equal pay lawsuit, and who will keep the Iraq war going and going and going?

And there's more. McCain has been disrespectful and misogynistic regarding Hillary Clinton, their champion. In an infamous incident during this campaign, he laughed along when a voter asked him, "How do we beat the bitch?" In fact, he replied, "That's an excellent question." See for yourself:

Ten years ago, he cracked a joke making fun of Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Janet Reno that the Post dubbed "too vicious to print." Other major news outfits also refused to print or broadcast the joke, thus doing a disservice to the public by failing to show this nasty side of McCain. In that pre-YouTube era in Salon, I published the gag:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?

Because her father is Janet Reno.

Kinda crude, right?

I know it's tough to be rejected. Most of us have been at some time. And, no doubt, some voices in the media have lashed out at Clinton for the wrong reasons, treating her unfairly because she's a dame. So gals for Clinton have cause to be mad and discouraged--and Obama will have to gently court this bloc. Yet ultimately these spurned voters will have to dump the anger and come to terms with the reality that politics, like life, often presents you with let-downs and imperfect choices. Sure, that may be easy for a guy to say. But if these women settle for an old fellow who laughs when Clinton is called a bitch, they're going to end up stuck in a bad relationship.