Thrusting that fist into the 21st century

Bill Clinton's campaign wisdom, as conveyed by John Dickerson this week in Slate -- "Your opponent can't talk when he has your fist in his mouth."

Peggy Noonan's clear-eyed reaction to this, in her column in today's Wall Street Journal -- "Among Democratic political professionals, this kind of talk is considered tough and knowing, as opposed to, say, startingly belligerent and crude."

Any Republican saying the exact same thing is quickly labeled by the libs as -- you got it -- "mean-spirited."