I was delighted with the woman who called in to comment on the way the men (one said it and the others went along) described Senator Clinton in a classic sexist way. One of the men said that Senator Clinton was the best questioner at the hearing and this (I paraphrase) might indicate what a good Commander-in-Chief she could be...or maybe it made the case for keeping her where she is to keep asking these great questions. The caller pointed out that this is what happens often to competent women - the men say, "Oh, she's so good where she is, let's leave her there." Rather than, of course, promoting her. It is sad that you didn't take this fabulous opportunity to examine (or at least acknowledge) the blatant media sexism that has been on display throughout Senator Clinton's campaign. Instead, you just let the point drop by forcing the caller to repeat herself and then you went on to something else. This is the most under-reported story because the media doesn't like to confront its own bias. I hoped NPR would be above that. You are not, apparently.

Sent by Peg | 3:00 PM ET | 04-09-2008

As pointed out by Fred Kaplan on slate.com: "our military commitment to Iraq is open-ended and unconditional".

Each couple of months we hold long and heated debates about Iraq. Each debate ends in a draw and defaults to the status quo. Each debate an exercise in fertility. The soliders remain faceless pawns dying everyday.

The only solution to such an empass is to either stand up to George Bush, pull all Americans out and live with the consequences or leave Bush alone to do what he wants, without complaint.

That's it, either me the strongman or let the strongman win-endless debate is not productive for anyone.

Sent by Sarah | 3:36 PM ET | 04-09-2008

Okay, I arrived at my destination soon after one of the panelists commented about Hillary staying in the Senate because she demonstrated such competence questioning General Petraeus, the point being that I did not hear what (if any) responses the comment triggered?

Not to spark a feminist riot, but it sounded an awful lot like the sentiment "a woman's place is in the home". I was wondering if anyone else noticed this?

I believe the comment was made with very little thought about its context (current and historic). Moreover, it was probably said with no intention of demeaning Senator Clinton.

Does anyone else see this as an opportunity to have a real discussion about the subtleties and saliency of sexism in our society? Lots of "s" s in that sentence. Anyway I am not putting this out there as an attack but the fact that it was said so innocently demonstrates how pervasive sexism is.

Sent by julie | 3:48 PM ET | 04-09-2008

The "metrics" coming from the Pentagon and the White House are interesting, but if they are the measures of success, then Saddam had already achieved success in Iraq.

Sent by ed | 4:31 PM ET | 04-12-2008