I feel for Hillary Clinton. Pity, that is.

Pity.

That's what I feel for Hillary Clinton now.

Think back just a few months when Hillary Clinton, wearing the sheen of her so-called inevitability, crowed that all the guys were attacking her because she was ahead.

Contrast that with the grasping during the last week. First there is the angry, "shame on you" rant. Then there was the sarcastic mocking of his speaking style. Then to the strident tone. In none did she look presidential. She looked petty, silly, and desperate.

I pity her because in some respects she really didn't have much of a choice. Having exhausted every possible rationale for her presidency and been rejected by voters in 11 straight outings, she has no choice but to villainize her opponent.

Negative politics is not a new thing, and it's not news for someone to use that strategy when they are behind (as Hillary once instructed us), but she's attacking over silly things. Plagiarizing your campaign co-chair? Change you can Xerox? He gives good speeches? He's scared to debate me -- in Wisconsin? Shame on you?! If she has all the so-called experience and judgment, is that the best you can find to use against a supposed neophyte?

Hillary is up against the wall, and everyone knows it. Her husband even announced that if she doesn't win Texas, she can't win the nomination. If she loses Texas, how often will we have to hear that sound byte replayed?

That's a real possibility that Hillary will have to face that outcome and her husband's words because the polls in Texas have tightened to a statistical tie. She's gotta do something. I can understand why she'd be upset, but I don't feel bad for her. Just pity.