Peggy Noonan

Mike Murphy is a Republican political consultant. Peggy Noonan is a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. They don’t share the enthusiasm for the Sarah Palin pick. A live mike picked up the details of a conversation they thought was private.

Some days I totally agree with Peggy Noonan. Today is one of those days.

Now that Democratic contest is beginning to look more and more like a victory lap for Barack Obama, there is a growing chorus of criticism that Hillary Clinton was undone by sexism and misongyny. Here, for example. And here. I hear it from fellow female journalists too. But I have trouble buying it. Clinton fatigue, yes. But here’s the part that doesn’t add up for me: Obama was beating her among the demographics that seem to be the least sexist or generally bigoted or traditionalist: young people, college kids, people with a higher education, urban dwellers. She tended to win the group that one might expect to be the most resistant to electing the first woman president: blue-collar workers, older voters of both genders, rural voters.