Is Hillary a Speech Scold?

Can a presidential candidate today brow beat opponents and the press into making certain lines of inquiry taboo?

Anne Kornblut writes that that was just what the Hillary tried to do last week with her campaign's over-the-top response to David Geffen’s unflattering comments about the Clintons.

They declared her husband's impeachment in 1998 -- or, more accurately, the embarrassing personal behavior that led to it -- taboo, putting her rivals on notice and all but daring other Democrats to mention the ordeal again.

However, Mickey Kaus offers that while a strategy of intimidation may have worked during Bill’s rule in the 1990s, it won’t in the age of the blogosphere. In the past, the Clintons could simply pressure a few MSM executives to squash a story or exile a reporter. While those tactics can still be used against the MSM, they’re largely ineffective--and counter-productive--when applied to the new media.

Besides, the thing new media producers despise most is a speech scold.