Celebrity Feud

The Donald And Rosie: Pas de Dreck - washingtonpost.com

It has been appalling, entertaining and perverse witnessing the public mud-wrestling of Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump, two people who through hyperbole and bloviation have transformed themselves into pop culture personalities.

There is nothing particularly astonishing about two adults lashing out and having it captured for the public record. Read the filings in divorce proceedings or peruse gossip columns for abundant evidence of just how common grown-up temper tantrums can be. People attack each other's integrity, professionalism and intelligence all the time. But rarely do they so publicly go for the jugular of self-esteem: appearance.

Trump and O'Donnell have attacked each other over quirks of style, genetic fate and physiological riddles. But their blows and thrusts have not been equal. She mocked his hairstyle. He called her fat. That's when the row turned nasty and childish.