THE FORMER POTHOLDER CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK

From a bitchy National Review Online column written by Lisa Schiffren after she attended a gala last week for then-incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (whom she calls a "very minor demon queen"):

And here, patient reader, we stop to marvel at the mediocrity of this woman: she has a BA from a fourth-rate college and no professional experience to speak of (though she did raise five children, for which she deserves full credit); she did high-level volunteer work in San Francisco and across the state for the party; she has been in Congress 20 years, where she failed to distinguish herself on any particular policy issue; she raised a lot of money and was elected minority leader. For a host of reasons NRO readers are all too familiar with, her party took the House. There is a great deal of dumb luck in that story -- and not enough merit. For that reason Mrs. Pelosi might consider showing a little more humility and a little less strutting.

… Who was it who said that "real equality is when a mediocre woman can go as far as a mediocre man"? Looks like we're there.

All of which might hold a tad more weight if the high point of Lisa Schiffren's professional career weren't writing speeches for Dan Quayle.