WHEN IN DECLINE, CLINTON STRATEGY IS TO ATTACK SOMEONE ELSE

Chutzpah: A Hebrew word describing the attitude displayed by the boy who murdered his parents and then threw himself on the court, pleading for mercy because of his orphan status.

Grasping the wettest matches in America, her poll ratings slipping along with her husband's, Hillary Rodham Clinton set out last week to light a fire under the American people for her vision of HillaryCare. On her thus-far ill-fated tour, 1,000 opponents of Clinton-style, government-run health care were waiting for Mrs. Clinton in Seattle, outnumbering the 800 supporters rallied by White House organizers. The clever White House advance crew contrived to silence the protesters by turning on a noisy fountain, only to have the crowd begin shouting, "Whitewater, Whitewater!" -- to the amusement of nearly everyone but the First Lady and co-President.

Our co-President addressed the crowd: "Where I come from, freeloaders do not deserve respect," she shouted. It is this line that reminded me of the chutzpah for which we are indebted to the Hebrews. For Mrs. Clinton was referring specifically to small business as the "freeloaders" she had in mind. In ClintonSpeak, small business owners who take a stand of principled opposition to an employer mandate are now to be demonized as "freeloaders." And this by people who've spent all their lives in government, or scheming to get there.

It was all reminiscent of two revealing public moments for Mrs. Rodham Clinton. Last fall, responding to an inquiry from Rep. Norm Sisisky, D-Va., who had expressed concerned about the impact on small businesses of her health care plan's higher costs, she uttered what I'll nominate as the most arrogant public remark ever made by a First Lady. "Look," she snapped at the moderate southern Democrat, "I can't save every undercapitalized entrepreneur in America." Before that, there was a speech Mrs. Rodham Clinton made last year to a union gathering. Here's an excerpt from the wire story of May 26, 1993:

"Hillary Rodham Clinton brought union activists to their feet Wednesday with a slashing attack on price gougers and profiteers in medicine that amounted to a test run of the White House sales pitch on health reform.

"... She named no names, but dosed out rhetoric against big money interests she has accused ... of profiteering while millions of Americans struggle without health insurance or adequate care.

"... She said ... [her] voice rising almost to a shout, 'Talk about it! Talk to your friends and neighbors about what you see every day in terms of price gouging, cost-shifting, unconscionable profiteering,' said Mrs. Clinton.

Fortunately for her, those remarks of 15 months ago came before revelations of Mrs. Rodham Clinton's overnight, 1,000 percent return in the commodities market, a nice little piece of Decade-of-Greed profiteering, the denunciation of which is not to be uttered.

Jack Faris, of the National Federation of Independent Business, responded to last week's slashing attack on small business owners: "If there is anyone who deserves respect, it is the small business owners of America who somehow are able to provide jobs, meet payrolls and build the nation's economy while Big Government is doing everything it can to stifle the entrepreneurial spirit. Small business owners are not freeloaders. They are not looking for subsidies or Chrysler-style bailouts. What they want is affordable health care for their employees."

Meanwhile, last Friday, a continent away, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., convened his little preserve, the star chamber that is the Senate Labor Committee. The hearing's purpose: to grill, demonize and otherwise humiliate top executives of Pizza Hut, a large, law-abiding American corporation that has prospered in the sale of pizza to hungry Americans.

Well, what about it? What about the little tinpot tyrants along the Potomac, be they of the legislature or the executive? Are they now our servants, or our masters? Can there be employ-ees without employ-ers? Is anyone besides me deeply troubled when the heavy artillery of Big Government is wheeled into position for the purpose of shelling law-abiding Americans? Is it constructive to demonize American business, especially small business, the draft horse of American job creation?

Perhaps we should sympathize with Mrs. Rodham Clinton. For Monday, a federal judge ordered a trial held concerning the super-secret health care commission of lawyers and consultants that met last year to cook up HillaryCare. Among the likely witnessses: Hillary Rodham Clinton. On Capitol Hill, House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt is promising a vote next month -- perhaps as soon as Friday, August 12 -- on a health care bill that is as yet unwritten, cost unknown, and on which not one hearing has been held.

All this to get a bill enacted before November's elections smash into smithereens this Liberal Moment, for, oh, another generation or more. The American people are watching, and, all reports indicate, in a sullen mood.

For the great Clinton Health Care Express, the wheels are coming off.

Peter Kinder is associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian. He represents the 27th district in the Missouri Senate.