Bob McCarty Writes

Unlike the lead poisoning most often associated with toxic paint on toys and other made-in-China products, another type of lead (sounds like “reed”) poisoning never surfaced as a tactic in Hillary Clinton’s so-called “kitchen sink” strategy aimed at cutting Barack Obama’s lead in the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. And for good reason.

Most certainly, both types of lead poisoning involve the use of paint:

In the case of the tainted toys and other products made in China, for instance, paint on the exteriors of these products has been found to contain dangerously-high levels of lead (sounds like “red”).

In the case of the lead (again, “reed”) poisoning never employed by the former first lady’s campaign, a different kind of paint — political paint (a.k.a., “dirt,” opposition research, “skeletons”) — is involved. Rather than being applied with a standard brush and smooth, even strokes, political paint is best applied with a broad brush and a technique known as “smearing.”

So why didn’t Hillary Clinton resort to smearing as a lead (“reed”) poisoning tactic to salvage her White House bid? Because the “fumes” from her brand of political paint stood to do as much harm to her own campaign as they would have done to Obama’s.

Former Clinton Administration insider-turned Fox News Channel contributor Dick Morris highlighted one of those fumes during an appearance on FNC’s Hannity and Colmes program Thursday night. (A recap of that appearance appears at Real Clear Politics.)

After Sean Hannity expressed bewilderment about why Hillary Clinton didn’t raise the issue of Obama’s friendship with Bill Ayers, “a guy that admits to being part of the bombing with the Weather Underground of the New York City police headquarters in 1970, our Capitol building in 1971, the Pentagon in 1972,” Morris explained that she couldn’t. Why?

Because, he explained, “Her husband pardoned the FALN terrorist.”*

In addition, Morris added, “(Clinton) was on the legal defense team for the Black Panthers, who tortured and killed a federal agent.”

Unable to paint the first-term senator from Illinois in the most negative light possible, Hillary Clinton’s hopes of winning make-or-break primaries in Ohio and Texas and of closing the gap that now exists in the nationwide delegate count now verge on impossible. As a result, watching the election returns Tuesday night will be about as exciting for the Clintons as watching paint dry.

*Click here for details about President Bill Clinton’s pardons of members of Armed Forces of National Liberation, FALN (the Spanish acronym), a clandestine terrorist group devoted to bringing about independence for Puerto Rico through violent means.