Remember Stripes, Bill Murray’s take on American self-esteem after Vietnam? “We’re American soldiers!” Murray famously joked. “We’ve been kicking ass for 200 years! We’re 10-1!” Well, make it 10-2. Which begs the question: exactly how much is this postwar period going to suck?

Despite the walloping defeat of the Republicans in the 2006 midterm elections, the clowns are once again spilling out of the Volkswagen. Lately the neocons seem to be all over the public airwaves, and not as the targets of purgative public flogging or tarring ceremonies, but as the subjects of serious interviews, with respected journalists treating them like real human beings with real opinions.