The Campaign: Nothing New, But Well Said

With the slow-motion train wreck that is the Democratic nominating process having attained an even slower motion, we commend today's WSJ column by Joseph Epstein, who manages to wring from the monotony of an electoral draw between two flawed candidates enough new comparisons, mostly literary, to amuse us hardened political observers.

A delicious quotation:

I have always considered the Clintons as little more than a branch of William Faulkner's Snopes family, in their cases Snopeses who have given high SAT scores a bad name. I don't find it easy to imagine how anyone outside her immediate family could find Mrs. Clinton, in her bouncy campaign persona – Hubert Humphrey in drag – appealing.

More easily imagined is Mrs. Clinton at the start of a new day, slipping into yet another pants-suit, stepping into the makeover room, plastering on that frozen smile, and taking three deep breaths before hitting the bricks in the hope of coming across as more sincere than a Brian Williams necktie – while doing her best impression of a deeply caring person.