1968

Michele Catalano:

How many times have I said in the past year that I feel a 1968 coming? Quite a few. Unfortunately, I think it's no longer just coming. It's here. The air has the same quality to it that I felt as a six year old. Like lightning about to strike. You can almost hear the thunder in the distance. I don't think the violence will reach the point it did that year, that's not what I mean. But the ugliness, the divide that keeps getting bigger, the hatred and vitriol; all present and accounted for.

No, the violence this year will not be like 1968, although there will be nastiness at the GOP convention in New York. (And Nurse Bloomberg will once again be shown to be out of his depth.)

But if President Bush is re-elected—and likely he will be, with a decisive majority of the popular vote—then next year will look more like the worst of the late 60s and early 70s.

We are perilously close to a revival of domestic terrorism, and not from right-wing militia types. The Left—both domestic and international—is already making common cause with Islamists. It is only a matter of time before some in those camps decide to cement that alignment with more than mere words.

Some, not many. But it only takes a few.