We all know the Village loves simple-minded, personality-driven, high-school level narratives, and that they are very well paid for endlessly repeating these constructs.

Surely the "boys against the girls," "ganging up on Hillary," "piling on" narrative bears all the hallmarks of such a Village construct? It has the smell of a Rovian bankshot. In fact, Russert helped Hillary out with her fundraising.

They're all Mayberry Machivellis in the Village, and they've all been playing their games for a long, long time, and they all know each other's moves. I wouldn't be surprised if Russert's "tough questioning" was designed to elicit the exact return volley from Hillary that it did. So, all the "get rid of Russert" stuff from the blogosphere wasn't relevant at all; he was just doing his job for the Village.

Because Hillary is, after all, the candidate that the Village loves. Witness the steady marginalization of all the other candidates. This photograph, from Kit Seelye, is especially egregious; Edwards is literally marginalized and made to look foolish (I won't give it such credence as we can give it by circulating it.) Via BAG News.

NOTE We need to disabuse ourselves of the idea that the Village is "for" anything but the Village. It's all about structuring the discourse to their advantage.