This is rather unsightly, and not to mention media incestuous. It comes courtesy of Michael Crowley at The New Republic and it only highlights the media's need to end their utter fascination with picking apart Clinton phrases, or here, Clinton-related phrases. There's an historic campaign unfolding, why don't reporters and pundits just cover that?

The topic was Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. Crowley noted that the New York Times' Clinton-ologist Patrick Healy had posted this online during a rather goofy IM exchange published in NY mag:

You know what I keep hearing privately from advisers to Hillary? They say, “Why is it our job to blunt Palin's impact? Hillary is not on the ticket. Obama didn't choose her.” I don't think it's so much about resentment, it's an honest assessment that Hillary can only do so much in this regard. (And she doesn't want to be blamed if this vote doesn't go Obama's way.)

Note the comments were not sourced and were made privately. Nonetheless, Crowley didn't like the gist and announced, “This really doesn't strike me as a line that Hillary's people should be promoting.”

Question: How are Hillary's people “promoting” it if they're discussing it privately? I'm pretty sure her aides are press savvy enough that if their intention was to actually promote that meme, they could do that in the press. To date, they specifically have not. (i.e. If Healy had real sources and real quotes from Clinton aides pushing that theme, he would have published it in the NYTimes.)

Yet Crowley claims they are “promoting” it, based on a second-hand, unsourced IM exchange.