Hillary's Gas Gaffe Noxious
By Andrea Peyser, New York Post
January 08, 2004

BEFORE a roomful of fans and fat-wallet Democrats, a presumably sober Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last weekend performed an act more tasteless, offensive - and potentially hurtful - than anything Britney Spears could conjure up.

And, holy double-standard, lefties, the Hillary Show has provoked an astonishing reaction from politicians and liberal activists, as well as the national media:

Almost total silence.

Here's what happened Saturday in St. Louis, as Clinton spoke at a fund-raiser for Senate candidate Nancy Farmer:

Clinton began her spiel by introducing a quote from legendary Indian peace activist Mahatma Gandhi.

Then, as if to explain who Gandhi was, she quickly veered into a pitiful Borscht-Belt imitation:

"He ran a gas station down in St. Louis."

It took two days before Hillary apologized. Sort of. And that, only after the head of the Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence, an organization founded by Gandhi's grandson, blasted her words as an ethnic "stereotype" that "could be incredibly harmful."

"It was a lame attempt at humor," said Hillary, "and I am very sorry that it might be interpreted in a way that causes stress to anyone."

Imagine the blistering outrage that would fly from Washington to Hollywood if a Republican senator "joked" about Martin Luther King bagging groceries at Pathmark - then said, "Sorry, guys, if you interpreted my words badly."

Hillary, normally as controlled and calculating a customer as they come, has, unintentionally, revealed the phony character rotting inside.

She'd wield the name of an icon for her own benefit. Just don't expect her to issue him an invitation to her dinner table.

But this is Hillary, after all.

As always, she gets a pass.