A look ahead..

There is a great deal of enthusiasm and optimism around the Democratic primaries, and rightly so. The choice of either Hillary or Obama as standard bearer for the progressive movement is a wonderful choice, as either candidate offers competence, intelligence and a belief in the positive nature of government in stark contrast to the idiot dauphin who will stalk the halls of the White House for the next 10 months.

However, not to throw a turd in the punchbowl, but we've got a long way to go before November, and the party that occupies the executive branch will not necessarily go quietly into that dark night. Rather, with W's approval rating bottoming out at a brand new low of 19%, the smart money will be placed on more cynicism and scaremongering, more stubborn obfuscation around their bald grab for broad executive powers, and more mouth breathing fury from the right as they see their world fall apart. To wit, Bill O'Reilly gives us a taste of the good things we can expect from him as the campaign heats up:

I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down.

and the putative Republican nominee won't be left behind when it comes to placing "Islamofascism" into its appropriate historical perspective:

Arizona Sen. John McCain played it cautiously Monday night, barely mentioning his Democratic rivals for the presidency, hailing past and present Republican presidents and underscoring that his focus as president would be waging war against "radical Islamic extremism."

Speaking to about 500 party faithful at the Outagamie County Lincoln Day Dinner, McCain said the war in Iraq was part of the fight against Islamic extremism, "the greatest evil, probably, that this nation has ever faced."

As my six year old says, "Seriously?"

Blue Texan at Firedoglake runs it down:

Nazi Germany took over one continent and a good chunk of another, executed 12,000,000 men, women, and children in the name of racial purity, and started a war that killed 70,000,000 people worldwide. The Japanese slaughtered 35,000,000 Chinese, including 300,000 mostly for the hell of it at Nanking. And of course there's Stalin, who killed 20,000,000 of his own people and Mao, who probably wiped out 2-3 million for being disloyal.

Someone who ranks Osama and the war in Iraq above World War II and Hitler and Stalin and Mao just should not be taken seriously about anything. It should be automatic grounds for a complete loss of all credibility, especially on national security issues. Period. It's ridiculous.