In what voters ought to be taking as the final insult, the wife Bill Clinton is using in a 22nd Amendment circumvention scheme is now refusing to answer questions:

Before the brief Christmas break, the New York senator had been setting aside time after campaign speeches to hear from the audience. Now when she's done speaking, her theme songs blare from loudspeakers, preventing any kind of public Q&A.

She was no more inviting when a television reporter approached her after a rally on Thursday and asked if she was "moved'' by Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Clinton turned away without answering.

Her daughter, Chelsea, had the same reaction when a reporter approached her with a question.

Hillary Clinton's no-question policy didn't sit well with some of the Iowans who came to see her speak.

"I was a little bit underwhelmed,'' said Doug Rohde, 46, as he left her a rally in a fire station in Denison. "The message was very generic -- and no questions.''

Clinton campaign officials said that she may take questions in the coming days.

I think it would be more fun if she gave a generic answer for all questions which displease her with the regal "we."

"We are not amused!"

If this no-questions "strategy" works, it's just more proof that P.T. Barnum was right.

(But if you think Madame Clinton will be more forthcoming after her coronauguration, think again.)