The crochety old campaigner had one more bout left in him.

In front of a House committee Wednesday, former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld denied that the Pentagon covered up the 2004 death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

Tillman is the former Arizona Cardinal who gave up the NFL in favor of joining the Army after Sept. 11.

“There is no doubt in my mind, sir, that you knew that friendly fire caused the death of Mr. Tillman,” Committee Chair Henry Waxman, D-Calif, declared.

“So the questions are a) when did you know it wasn’t enemy fire and b) why did you continue to present this charade to the American public and, above all, Mr. Tillman’s friends and family?”

Fair questions, to be sure, and ones that Rumsfeld answered by digging deep into his perplexing canon of greatest hits.

“With respect, we never denied that Mr. Tillman died,” he said. “That’s never been an issue. I’m not quite sure what this hubbub’s about, if you can call this a hubbub at all.”

Not since the Quinnipiac-Yuckraker poll was instituted in 1931 has it hit upon an issue that so deeply divides the public.

In phone interviews with 1,347 Americans (673 men, 674 women), nearly half (673) found the display of a mangina — whereby the male tucks his private parts between his legs to portray a those of a woman’s and then dances and goes “Woo-hoo” to his significant other — funny. Seventy-five percent of these found the mangina to be “uproariously funny.”

“When I come out of the shower and my wife’s laying on the bed — that’s a great time to break it out,” said Washington County’s Errol Michaels.

The other half said they offer an eye-roll or an “Ewwww, stop it” when confronted with such a tuck by their husbands or boyfriends.

In a more poignant sign of American unity, 98 percent of those polled said “Quinnipiac” is the most awesome name for a college, ever.