Working the Refs

As March Madness finally comes to an end, we can look forward to at least a year of madness leading up to President Clinton's inauguration.  It hasn't been too raucous yet, and over the weekend, some Clinton partisans took a page out of the basketball coaches' playbook and started working the refs in the mainstream media by proactively trying to ban certain words that the media unconsciously uses when referring to Hilary.  When the coaches start to berate the referees early in the game to focus their attention on a particular player or play, the intent is to make the refs aware of a more prone to call illegal actions on the court.  Similarly, when the media is put on notice to avoid the use of words like "calculating", "secretive" and overly familiar physical descriptions of Ms. Clinton, they will initially protest, but the effect will be cumulative and unconsciously or not, reporters and editors will refrain from many of the abusive descriptions they have used over the years.  There are howls of outrage from some regarding the threats to monitor the media, but there is no other way to change the behavior of many in the mainstream media.  Haters gotta hate... but at least they know they will be called on it.