It's an interesting idea. I'm not sure I agree with the idea that white male voters didn't like her before because she was playing referee or reformer, but I can see more attraction now because she's positioned herself as a fighter.

Really I think a lot of white males, even cool liberal white males (who are mostly who I'm surrounded by) just used to think she was a bitch, period. But if she's transitioned from bitch to fighter, then I can see people's attitudes changing.

I'd really like to see some numbers though. I think Clinton's base demographic is more prevalent in the states voting since and including Ohio, so it's not clear that the white male voters Faludi's talking about weren't already going to vote for her.

Btw, enough with the racism hysteria. The one thing lurking underneath all the accusations of racism is that any time Hillary appeals to her base support demographic, she's invoking race -- this is not only ridiculous but condescending and insulting to working class voters. The assumption is that blue collar workers are automatically racist, thus an appeal to them is ipso facto racist. Since my background's blue collar, I'm more likely to notice the underlying stereotypes but that doesn't excuse everyone else from doing a bit of assumption-checking before they go all race-rabid, either.

The main concern of working class folks, and folks without college degrees is the economy. Clinton is strong on the economy. Obama is not. Obama's base is college kids, most of whom have not had to support themselves in a bad economy yet, and rich liberals, who will be hurt in a bad economy but not squeezed nearly as much as those with so much less margin. For poll after poll, voters for whom the biggest issue is the economy lean toward Clinton.

Sheesh, you'd think people so hyper-sensitive to racism would have at least a little bit of sensitivity left over to apply to other stereotypes.

"Nevada's rape rate is higher than the U.S. average and way higher than the rape rate in California, New York and New Jersey. Why is this? Legal prostitution creates an atmosphere in this state in which women are not humans equal to them, are disrespected by men, and which then sets the stage of increased violence against women," Farley said.

The Guardian needs to do some fact checking. In just a couple of seconds I found the per capita rates for rape (this happens to be from 2004) and Nevada is #17. States 1-16 don't have legalized prostitution. The difference between Nevada's rate and #25 (the median), Oregon, is .043

The Guardian article reported that over 80% of the legal brothel worked in NV wanted out, and that some workers were physically restrained from leaving. Well, I'd bet that 80% or more of illegal prostitutes would want out too. And restraining someone from leaving is already a crime (actually, it's probably a number of crimes, including several felonies, depending on the circumstances).

Could legalizing prostitution affect how men view women generally? Maybe. But throwing out badly reasoned arguments and misleading numbers doesn't help make the case for it. No one's arguing that prostitution isn't bad. The question is how/if legalizing it would be worse than the horrifying state it's in now.

...is if his relationship with 'Kristen' or any other prostitutes revealed a flaw that made him unfit to carry out his duties as mayor (or whatever office he holds now or in the future).

Is he a hypocrite? Well, in a broad sense, yes. But I think accusations of hypocrisy are way overrated these days (since that's just about all the MSM reports on these days -- there's no reseach or fact-checking required -- easy!). You can be the world's worst hypocrite and still be right. If I'm a smoker but I tell kids not to smoke, the advice is still good.

Does all this make him a jerk? Yeah, probably. So are lots of politicians, I don't see any mass resignations in the offing, though.

I know zip about his wife, but if she's been part of his success, she may see standing by him as a way of salvaging her own efforts and work over the years rather than go down in flames over his boneheaded move. Who knows, maybe she's hedging her bets and going to dump his ass in a very expensive divorce. Or maybe they'll work it out somehow based on whatever's kept them together for 21 years. Lots of couples deal with adultery and stay together. No one handcuffed her and chained her to the podium.

Were his actions illegal and immoral? Well yeah. But his work as a prosecutor was aimed at crimes that can cause major social destabilization. A rigged Wall Street can (and just may, if you've followed the economic news lately) bring down the entire economy of the U.S., and possibly the globe. Organized crime can ruin a society. Soliciting prostitution is what, a misdemeanor? (don't even get me started on the damn Mann Act violation, please).