Sir Hillary, Madam Hillary

One more thing about Hillary Clinton and the adventurer she claimed to have been named after.

When Safire called Mrs. Clinton a congenital liar in the mid-nineties, she responded that she took offense only because the columnist had impugned her parents' honor — the term congenital of course meaning inherited or hereditary.

Then, in late 2006, when asked to explain the patent untruth about being named after Sir Edmund Hillary, her campaign hung the candidate's mom out to dry without a second thought. Clinton's spokescritter trumpeted happily that it was Hillary's mother who supposedly delivered the fib to the world.

So much for defending her poor parents' virtuousness.

Sure, in the scheme of things, it's hardly a key issue. But to me, the breezy betrayal signifies that when it comes to that old saw about politicians selling their mother for political gain, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the real deal.