The XX Factor: What women really think.

More on Hillary Syndrome

Dahlia, here's why I think you're right that Hillary hatred is tied up with gender: People who froth at the mouth about her are often neutral to postive about Bill. Even when the substantive reasons they give for hating Hillary are easily and equally reason to hate both of them. In my family, Hillary gets bashed for the role she played in the health care debacle. Because she screwed it up, but more because they think it was nepotistic of her to have assumed a leading role in the first place. Who gave her that role? Bill. Similarly, the charge that Hillary is a phony triangulator applies as much or more to Bill. And yet the phony part seems to stick to her, and not to him. For sure, this is a matter of personality, and they certainly have different ones. But it's also about how Hillary's personality, and persona, meshes with being a woman.

So will John McCain's lapse hurt him? It reminds me of that incredibly awful joke he told about Chelsea.