The glorious Billmon is back for a day and talking about the creepy cult of the leader under(over)tones of the Bush campaign.

I have to say that all politics aside if you aren't thoroughly disgusted by the idea of having to sign a loyalty oath to see the President speak/campaign then I think you have some serious soul-searching to do. The President is supposed to be the President of all Americans, not just half of us. It really sickens me to see a man who tried to lead us all with a policy of centrism (Bill Clinton) get tarred and feathered and then a man who ran as a uniter drive an incredible wedge through this country to the extent that liberals can't even see him speak.

That's just not America. I'm sorry. When people say that we could be on the verge of fascism, or that this is the most important election of our lifetimes, this is what they mean. And this isn't about conspiracies or oil or vote swapping. This is about access and representation and fairness.

I have to say that in an instance like this it is incumbent on the members of the party at fault to either speak up and change their party's behavior or to abandon it. Republicans, like Democrats in the eighties, have some very serious soul-searching to do.

I leave you with this. Billmon provides us with this incredibly prescient quote:

"Sure, only here they'll call it anti-fascism."

Huey Long, when asked if fascism could ever come to America