Just to make the pearl subtext of the "diamonds or pearls" question for Hillary last night completely explicit.

Yes, it turns out that CNN planted the "diamonds or pearls" question.

Too bad the questioner played along, although I can see the pressure for Civility. There's entirely too much playing along with the CNN master debaters, wouldn't you say?

Via Marc Ambinder, what the questioner herself had hoped for:

Maria Luisa, the UNLV student who asked Hillary Clinton whether she preferred "diamonds or pearls" at last night's debate wrote on her MySpace page this morning that CNN forced her to ask the frilly question instead of a pre-approved query about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

"Every single question asked during the debate by the audience had to be approved by CNN," Luisa writes. "I was asked to submit questions including "lighthearted/fun" questions. I submitted more than five questions on issues important to me. I did a policy memo on Yucca Mountain a year ago and was the finalist for the Truman Scholarship. For sure, I thought I would get to ask the Yucca question that was APPROVED by CNN days in advance."

Well, is there really a story here?

I mean, the questioner is a woman. Plus, she's brown. Plus, she's Hispanic. So I think she should just accept the honor of being chosen by Our Betters to ask Hillary a girly question, and shut up about it. Eh? Nice work, CNN!