So it looks as if Barack Obama is going to continue to push the "gender card" criticism of Hillary. A female Obama adviser, Samantha Power, just went on Tucker to go after Clinton. Take a look:

Here's a transcript:

TUCKER: I'm just wondering very quickly what you think of Senator Clinton's position that Barack Obama is being mean to her partly because she's a woman, and that's wrong, that's out of bounds, that he should stop it. You think that's a legitimate response to his attacks on her?

OBAMA ADVISER SAMANTHA POWER: I'm hoping it was just a colossal slip of the tongue. I can't conceive that Hillary Clinton who, you know, is such a professional, that she would think that somehow points of policy difference come about because of gender difference -- that makes no sense to me whatsoever. To think that women in this country will respond to that I think would be, if that what's she's implying, and again, I can't believe that it is, but that would be quite insulting to women voters who are trying to actually make decisions on the merits.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Whatever you think of Obama and Hillary, did any of the stuff alleged above ever happen? Did Hillary ever say (as Tucker claims) that Obama is being "mean" to her because she's a woman? Did Hillary ever say (as Samantha Power claims) that policy differences come about because of gender differences?

As we noted earlier at some length, Camp Hillary is definitely trying to highlight the gender dimension to all this for political gain. There's no question about that. But still, none of the stuff alleged above by Tucker and Power ever happened.

Late Update: A number of commenters below are saying that Power was actually sticking up for Hillary here. I think that's plainly not the case. First off, note her first line: "I'm hoping it was just a colossal slip of the tongue." This is a ratification of Tucker's characterization of what Hillary said. Power then goes on and says she can't believe that Hillary could have possibly meant this. But this isn't a defense of her at all. It's saying, in effect, "I can't believe Hillary could possibly mean this, but she did say these things, and they're insulting to women." It's hard to see this as not being disingenuous. This is clearly a condemnation.

And again, as I noted below, the Hillary camp has in some ways emphasized the gender dimension of the contest for political reasons. So in some ways the spirit of what the Obama camp has been saying is right. But Hillary just didn't say the stuff alleged, or suggested, above. That's my problem with this exchange.

Late Late Update: Go take a look at what Taylor Marsh has to say about this Tucker/Power exchange.