Since you've opened that door...(UPDATE)

“The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight … and one of the things they’re certainly going to jump on is his drug use,” said Shaheen, the husband of former N.H. governor Jeanne Shaheen, who is planning to run for the Senate next year. Billy Shaheen contrasted Obama’s openness about his past drug use — which Obama mentioned again at a recent campaign appearance in New Hampshire — with the approach taken by George W. Bush in 1999 and 2000, when he ruled out questions about his behavior when he was “young and irresponsible.”

Shaheen said Obama’s candor on the subject would “open the door” to further questions. “It’ll be, ‘When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?’” Shaheen said. “There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It’s hard to overcome.”

That wasn't quite as smooth as you were hoping, Mr. Shaheen. You tried to make the Republicans look mean and push dirty laundry on your opponent at the same time. Instead you just started looking mean, and desperate to boot.

But since you brought it up...

Let's be sure and ask: what drugs has Senator Clinton done? Hey, I understand things got pretty wild back in the Sixties. And Seventies. By your logic, it's something those nasty Republicans are bound to bring up, right? So let's have a little journalistic inquiry into Hillary's peccadilloes. And get her on the record.

I don't think anyone's going to ding her too much for the sorts of indiscretions we all suspect President Bush engaged in and has the decency to be ashamed of. But I'd like to see whether she tells the truth about it. It's always an awkward question, but if it's one her staff feels comfortable grilling Senator Obama about, she ought to face the same scrutiny.

UPDATE: And we would now like to just cram all this toothpaste back into the tube, and pretend none of this happened. You are getting sleepy...sleepy...