Mayhill Fowler, whose report sparked the 'bitter small towns' controversy, describes the Barack Obama campaign as 'classy.' She's right. But think about that. If there's one thing the Clinton campaign is not, it's classy.

And that's very odd, because classy would have worked for Hillary Clinton so much better, don't you think? When she was asked if she thought that Obama was a Muslim, she hemmed and hawed around it. Well, she didn't think he was a Muslim, but of course she couldn't really say for sure (wink, wink).

She couldn't bring herself to be classy, to say, "That's completely ridiculous! It's just a perfect example of the kinds of lies we've come to expect from the far right. Barack Obama is no more a Muslim than I am!" But why not? Why didn't she say that? To be completely cynical about it, the rumors wouldn't have gone away, just because she denied them. I'm convinced that this kind of reply would have given her campaign a much bigger boost than her mealy-mouthed equivocating. 'Classy' would have worked for her, but apparently that's just not in her nature.

Likewise, she jumped on the Rev. Wright controversy like a Karl Rove Republican. Hey, the excerpts from Wright's sermons were bad enough for her purposes. They were getting plenty of play - especially on Fox - and the Republicans were howling for blood. So why didn't she go for the high road, speaking out about understanding the black experience and about how a person should not be judged by two or three phrases from a lifetime of sermons and good works. As a purely political move, sticking up for Barack Obama would have helped her own campaign much more than his. As a practical matter, 'classy' would have worked best. But it was not her choice.

We've seen this over and over again. The latest example is this 'bitter' garbage. This time, Clinton is not just following the Republican playbook, but actually appears to be coordinating her comments with John McCain. Note that Obama's comments received plenty of press, right from the start, and the Republicans certainly made a big deal about it. So wouldn't Clinton have looked much better if she'd supported Barack Obama's point, rather than pick out a few words from the speech (bitter, guns, religion) and hammer them like a lying Swift Boat veteran?

Time and time again, we've seen Hillary Clinton taking the low road - the lowest of low roads - when I'm convinced that the high road would have helped her campaign much more. She's widely thought to be cynical, manipulative, scheming, untrustworthy, and untruthful, and these would have been perfect opportunities to demonstrate the opposite. But she just couldn't bring herself to be classy. Maybe it didn't even occur to her as an option, I don't know.

Last year, I would have been happy enough with either candidate, though I worried that Hillary's negatives were frighteningly high. I'd never understood the virulent hatred for Hillary Clinton. It seemed to be just pathological. I always stood up for her, throughout the Clinton presidency and afterwards.

But I guess she's shown me that I was wrong. So far this year, whenever she's had the chance to do something right AND to help her own campaign, she chose the politics of fear and divisiveness even when classy would have worked better! She may no longer be a Goldwater Girl, but her instincts are still with the Republicans, it seems. She and Karl Rove have formed a mutual admiration society - they're technically on opposite sides, but they both play the game in the same way. And she's even schmoozing up to the 'vast right-wing conspiracy.'

Why couldn't the Clintons - either of them, this year - go with classy? It's got to be a personality flaw,... or perhaps just too much time spent in the poisonous atmosphere of Washington. (Bill Clinton, in particular, just seems furious all the time. Hey, I've been furious for seven years! Where's he been?) As I say, I'm convinced this would have actually helped her campaign - really helped it, too. Tell me I'm wrong.

As it is, I guess I understand the Hillary-haters much better. Maybe they were more perceptive than I. Maybe they saw something I'd been missing all those years... Nah! They're just lunatics who got it right for once. But Hillary Clinton has convinced me that she's not suited for the presidency, not at all. She's demonstrated her true nature this year, and it isn't pretty.