The Iron Lady:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton quickly apologized Friday after citing the June 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in defending her decision to keep running for the Democratic presidential nomination despite increasingly long odds.

"I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever," the former first lady said.

Forget about the conditional apology part -- "I regret that if" -- which is standard political procedure these days. It's just the last, sad rusted bolt in her metallic coat: Mrs. Clinton, ultimately, was always prepared to say anything, anything, to justify the previous half century of her life as a political robot by grabbing the iron ring.

We see now it was not merely a matter of the truth, which never stood in the way of the message. It is simply that she does not care at all about the content of anything she says except whether or not it will have the desired political effect. That, of course, is a formula that is inherently self-defeating, but when you lack sensitivity... when you do not care... when you just do not get it...

You defeat yourself.

Cross-posted on Likelihood of Success.