If you missed last night's interview, here's Part 1:

Part 2 in the Vlog.

I think Fred Barnes hit on it this morning when he said very simply that Hillary's appearance was "smart." Not brilliant, not groundbreaking. Just a smart move that came not a moment too late.

Whatever the leftwing blogosphere might think about it, the fact remains that Fox News is the most popular cable news network in the country, and a big reason for that is Bill O'Reilly. By their juvenile effort at a boycott -- picked up and spearheaded by none other than John Edwards last year -- all the bloggers did for the Democratic candidates was make them seem weak and beholden to a very small segment of the Democratic base. Meanwhile, the GOP candidates had no problem facing Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.

The bloggers didn't really care that this hurt their own candidates. Their fiery indignation had the exact effect they wanted -- not so much to delegitimize Fox as to legitimize their own power. And for a good portion of the primary, they felt good about themselves. But, alas, all good things must come to an end, as both candidates have appeared on Fox in less than a week. Just read OpenLeft's Matt Stoller's lament about the Obama campaign:

I just don't think we really have a role in this Presidential race anymore. It doesn't matter what I say or do, it doesn't matter what kinds of comments we put up, what Josh Marshall says, it only matters what Obama and a few key staffers say and think. And they don't care what we think, they have other channels they care about, including a whole network of grassroots organizers. Their attitude is probably along the lines of 'well we won without them, they all think they know better than we do, let them run a race for once'.

That's fine, that's their choice. They've made it, there's not much any of us can do. Just know that their logistical operations are remarkable, their campaign structure is phenomenal, and we're not a part of it.

In any case, the point here is not to trumpet Fox and not to diminish the role of the blogosphere. The point is that absolutist efforts to exact strict adherence to the party line can sometimes be bad politics, especially when the cost of toeing that line is access to millions of potential voters.