Friedman wrote: “They questioned his authority. They accused him of treason. They created pictures depicting him as a Nazi SS officer, and they shouted death threats at rallies. His political opponents winked at it all.”

The “kill the president” meme gained prominence during W’s presidency, when Friedman first should have invoked the description above. The sentiment was low and foul then, and is low and foul now. Could one important difference be the quasi-erotic charge BO’s defenders have gotten—since he became a nominee—from the prospect of a BO assassination? Might explain why TF wrote the passage above now, and not in 2006.