You’ve got to hand it to Hillary Clinton – she’s never met a disaffected minority she didn’t rush to pander to whenever it was politically expedient for her to do so. Take last week, for example – Hillary had herself quite a time chasing after potential votes in the African-American community with all the moxie and zeal of an bonafide ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyer. Disgraced radio talk-jock Don Imus had barely had time to start cleaning out his office before Hillary was at Rutgers University to support the women’s basketball team following Imus’ well-publicized comments that ultimately led to his firing.

Lest one accuse Madame Hillary of piling on the Destroy Imus bandwagon, there might have been some genuine empathy on her part for the feelings of the Rutgers girls – after all, as Polipundit’s Michael Illions notes, she’s had prior experience in this area.

The words “fraud” and “hypocrite” don’t even begin to describe Hillary Clinton and the lengths this self-absorbed, unabashedly ambitious egomaniac will go to ingratiate herself to the American public. Does anyone doubt there must have been a pretty strong debate behind the scenes amongst her campaign advisers as to whether she should show up at Virginia Tech to lend her support and compassion to the students there? I don’t. Perhaps even she felt a stunt like that would be over the line. But don’t doubt for a moment the idea didn’t cross her mind once or twice. After all, when it come to pure chutzpah, Hillary takes the cake.

Don’t believe me? Remember her country-fried schtick last month in Selma, Alabama? Well, we got another taste of it during her smarmy address to Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network conference this past weekend. Born in Illinois? Educated at Wellesley? Naw….this is just a down-home, backwoods raised, country chile. Don’t believe me? Check this out.

Question: Does Hillary really think she can get away with such an obviously transparent, pandering act? Can you imagine what would happen if, say, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did the same thing? Why, she’d be absoluteley skewered by the mainstream dino-media!

And it’s not me thinking this same kind of thing. This from the great Victor David Hanson (Hat tip: Michelle):

“When I walk into the Oval Office in 2009, I’m afraid I’m going to lift up the rug and I’m going to see so much stuff under there. You know, what is it about us always having to clean up after people?”

So spoke Senator Clinton in a pseudo-southern drawl to a largely black audience assembled under the aegis of Al Sharpton.

…Will anyone ever become offended that Senator Clinton serially now drops her Wellesley nasal tones to affect a condescending drawl in the presence of African-Americans, as if blacks all speak in a southern slang?

And does “us always having to clean up after people” suggest — Howard Dean-like — that she assumes an assembly of black leaders is paramount to domestic workers?

And speaking of lifting rugs and finding “stuff under there”: Does she realize that image of surprises lurking in the White House private quarters immediately evokes Hillary’s mysterious billing records of the Rose Law firm — under court subpoena but strangely missing for two years — that abruptly “turned up” in the “book room” in the personal residence of the White House? And as I recall Ms. Clinton was the first First Lady to testify in front of a grand jury.

Why would an obviously intelligent and supposedly sophisticated politician resort to such cheap and obviously transparent stunts? First of all, because she knows she can get away with it. But, more importantly, I think, she knows her campaign is in trouble and she’s doing whatever she can to solidify her political base (actually, her husband’s political base). Anyone who doubts this must have missed Hillary’s announcement over the weekend that, were she elected President, she’s planning on dragging out ol’ Bill to be her ‘roving anmbassador’.

And lookee here at this – if you believe the polls (and I don’t, but so what?), Obama’s pulled even with her among Democrats likely to vote.

As I’ve said before, you’ll be able to tell how much trouble Hillary’s campaign is in by the amount of times she invokes The Cheater in speeches and press releases. She knows how unpopular she is, and needs to do whatever she can to steer the conversation away from her personally and back to the so-called “good old days” of her husband’s Presidency.

As if that’s a legacy anyone would want to wrap themselves around…

But this is Hillary Clinton, and it’s the White House she’s after. So nothing she says or does should surprise anyone anymore.