Maybe she should go back behind that wall. In a clever piece called “Rush to Judgment,” decently-well-aging Maureen Dowd accuses Rush Limbaugh of jumping in on the Hillary-is-aging-fast bandwagon: “[S]ome conservative pundits who disagree with a woman on matters of policy jump straight into an attack on the woman’s looks or personal life.” It stands to reason that Dowd, known for her swift manufacture of convenient “facts,” probably didn’t even read Rush’s column about Drudge’s now notorious “hag picture,” a piece that is basically sympathetic to Senator Clinton’s visage-related political woes — exactly as predicted:

Now, I want to preface this by saying I know it’s going to get out there. Media Matters is going to get hold of this and they’re going to take it all out of context. We can expect that. It’s a badge of honor when this happens, but for the rest of you, I want you to understand that I am talking about the evolution of American culture here, and not so much Mrs. Clinton.

He then asks a perfectly fair question, and, to his credit, criticizes an unfortunate aspect of American culture:

It’s a country obsessed with looks. The number of people in public life who appear on television or on the big screen, who are content to be who they are, you can probably count on one hand. Everybody’s trying to make themselves look different — and in that situation, in that case, they think they’re making themselves look better. It’s just the way our culture has evolved. It’s the way the country is. It’s like almost an addiction that some people have to what I call the perfection that Hollywood presents of successful, beautiful, fun-loving people. So the question is this: Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?

You can believe Rush asks the question sincerely, Maureen, for a simple reason: His own looks and weight problems have been, for handsome and mature folk like Don Imus and Al Franken, a way to attack Rush without actually wrestling with his impact as one of American history’s most influential media figures, or his message. Rush is speaking to those of us who have a face for radio, and asking a question about whether this country is capable of choosing merit over looks. Ed Morrisey, incidentally, questions the premise of this claim — and makes a very compelling argument that it’s wrong.

Ironically, it’s fairly common knowledge (does anyone deny it?) that women are far more likely to vote looks than men are. And the reaction of women to Hillary Clinton is complicated. But the worst thing Rush Limbaugh can be accused of here is acknowledging that this picture exists, and that it could have a political effect. For Maureen Dowd, however, actually reading, comprehending and considering a Rush Limbaugh essay is out of the question. He’s all fat and stuff.