We’ve been through this before but there’s a precious bit in the new Glamour piece that demands quoting. Every time he breaks his arm patting the left on the back for its supposed civility, I find myself perversely wishing Cindy McCain would say something nutty and trigger a hypocrisy supernova as they all pile on.

GLAMOUR: An AP poll shows that while the positive ratings on Michelle are higher than those of Cindy McCain, her negative ratings are higher as well. I’m curious about how as a husband that makes you feel. Does it mystify you? And what do you want to say to those Americans who don’t know the woman that you know?

SENATOR OBAMA: It’s infuriating, but it’s not surprising, because let’s face it: What happened was that the conservative press—Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk—went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way…and treated her as the candidate in a way that you just rarely see the Democrats try to do against Republicans. And I’ve said this before: I would never have my campaign engage in a concerted effort to make Cindy McCain an issue, and I would not expect the Democratic National Committee or people who were allied with me to do it. Because essentially, spouses are civilians. They didn’t sign up for this. They’re supporting their spouse. So it took a toll. If you start being subjected to rants by Sean Hannity and the like, day in day out, that’ll drive up your negatives.

She’s not a “civilian” if she’s out on the trail promising that you’re going to immanentize the eschaton, champ. Riddle me this: How is Michelle O any more or less of a “civilian” than Jeremiah Wright, whom Obama concedes is fair game and a “legitimate issue” per their relationship? Wright’s not delivering campaign speeches on Obama’s behalf and surely his views, while arguably a proxy for some of Obama’s own, aren’t as reliable a proxy as Michelle’s. The point in criticizing her isn’t to go after the opponent’s wife for the sport of doing it, it’s to highlight what may or may not be an insight into the opponent himself. It’s really an attack on him, in other words — a dumb attack, since it lets him appeal to women voters by playing the angry husband, but an attack on him all the same.

Update: Looks familiar.