Among the large group of nameless Republican candidates whistling toward November's slaughter, we'd haveto say our favorite is John Spencer, the former mayor of Yonkers who's in a tight race to get more than 20 per cent against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Apart from the adultery and nepotism, the guy's just a quote machine. There was the whole "Chinaman's chance" thing, the suggestion that Senator Clinton "aids and abets" our enemies, and now, perhaps best of all, recent comments he made to the News' Ben Smith before this weekend's debate concerning Clinton's appearance: "You ever see a picture of her back then? Whew. I don't know why Bill married her." He went on to suggest that she's had "millions of dollars" of plastic surgery to improve her appearance.

Leaving every single absurdity aside, particularly the shocking sexism inherent in the implication that how female candidates look is fair game, we just want to say this: Take a gander at that picture up there. There's not a plastic surgeon in the world who's gonna take credit for that "work." Give us a break.

Mud in the face [NYDN]