Hillary Clinton and Rupert Murdoch may be pals these days, but in covering Mrs. C., today's New York Post managed to get two evil-Democrat memes into an eight-word headline and subhead:

HILLARY GATHERS AN ARMY

INCLUDES 3G FOR STYLIST

Yup, Hillary's jackbooted Hezbollah is on the march -- wielding blowdryers of mass destruction!

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign army has increased its ranks to 50 staffers and more than 20 consultants, specialists in everything from fund-raising to speech-writing to hairstyling and makeup.

Clinton, the likely 2008 Democratic White House front-runner, ponied up nearly $3,000 in campaign cash for her blond tresses to get some presidential pampering from acclaimed D.C. stylist Isabelle Goetz.

Recently released federal fund-raising records show Clinton shelled out $1,500 in April for Goetz to carefully craft her coiffure and another $1,000 for a camera-ready clip in May....

It goes on and on like that (avoid the Post firewall and read the whole thing free here if you want to) -- much is made of the work lavished on Hillary's "gilded mane," and a fancy-schmancy "makeup maestro" shows up, too.

So why on earth does this make the Post think of an army?

And not for the first time -- back in March, Hillary was lining up campaign workers and we had this in the Post:

HILLARY'S 'TROOP' BUILDUP

March 27, 2006 -- PREZ-ENT ARMS!

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won't say if she's running for the White House -- but she's already drafted a presidential-size army of campaign staffers that dwarfs John McCain's outfit and those of everyone else in the field....

Well, as I said then,

Right-wingers love to think they're at war (as long as they're not physically in the line of fire). If they can't have a real war (enjoyed from a safe distance), they want a metaphorical war. But they prefer a particular kind of war: a war in which they can say the other guy declared war first.

By the way, I'm not entirely sure about the Post's price figures for Isabelle Goetz -- I don't believe she's really charging ten times what she charged the last time the Right was yammering about her. That was 2002, when Drudge declared that Goetz regularly charged Hillary $150 (but billed John Kerry $75). Unless Goetz has started pegging her fees to the price of crude oil, $150 to $1500 is a rather incredible markup.

It does appear from the Post story that Hillary had Goetz flown in to get a 'do or two, and that the high cost of the cuts included travel expenses -- but I figure that's what you do when you're a woman running for president in a visual age and you can't travel with a hair stylist like Laura Bush. Sure, it's extravagant, but what about another possible Madame President, Condi Rice? The Washingtonian says her hair choice is the Watergate Salon -- which charges $700 and up for a hair straightening, which makes it the most expensive of the salons recommended for straightening in another Washingtonian article. That's a service I assume Condi avails herself of; if she runs for president, thing Drudge or the Post will say a word about the cost?