Senator Clinton has spent the past few months raising tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from corporate America. She splits her time between a $2.8 million mansion in Washington and a $1.7 million, five-bedroom house in Chappaqua. The residences were paid for by book deals she and her husband cut with corporate publishers, by her own fortune from commodities trading, years of corporate lawyering and service on the board of Wal-Mart, and from the millions in fees her husband gets for speeches he gives to, among others, banks and trade associations.

So what happens the minute Mrs. Clinton gets before a labor union like the Communications Workers she spoke to yesterday in Washington? She lashes out at corporate executives, violating one of the axioms of the late Thomas “Tip” O’Neill — “Dance with the one that brung ya.” As our Russell Berman reports today, Mrs. Clinton said, “a lot of our corporate leadership doesn’t understand” the contribution of union workers. She questioned the patriotism of American business leaders, saying, “There is a mood in unfortunately too many corporate boardrooms that we don’t have to take care of the people who take care of us. We don’t have to do our duty to America.”

It will be illuminating to see if Mrs. Clinton’s comments questioning the patriotism of those in the corporate boardrooms cause a furor similar to Vice President Cheney’s comments questioning Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s judgment in linking war spending to a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Ms. Pelosi demanded an apology. Our nation’s business leaders deserve that from Mrs. Clinton — or at least a refund.