but the comments regarding her were definitely gendered in a way that, say, this year people having a go at Romney were not, or pre-Palin at Dubya.

Very much so. And I've certainly seen that happen time and again - and we'll continue to see it for some time to come, as more women run for higher political office. (I'm going to try to cheer myself up now - yay Elizabeth Warren! Much better.)

I pulled my leg over three weeks ago getting off my bicycle of all things - I didn't fall, but the bike did while I was trying to get off, and yanked my leg. My reg doctor thinks it's actually spine-related (inflamed disc or somesuch) so I'm off to get an MRI tonight. they've already done an xray on the hip and it's not a hip fracture thank god.