Of all the incendiary smears of tea partiers over the last few weeks, this one’s my very favorite. Not only is it relentlessly nasty, especially for a congressman — note the cute little joke he makes near the end referencing McCain’s torture in Hanoi — but it’s part of a critique of, ahem, right-wing vitriol. Come for the finger-wagging about civility, stay for the George Wallace and Kristallnacht analogies.

Then again, that’s par for the course. As Ed Driscoll reminds me, what makes this clip extra special is the fact that Steve Cohen himself was compared to a Klansman and targeted with anti-semitic innuendo by — ta da! — his Democratic opponent in the House primary two years ago. No one understands better than he does, in other words, just how vicious some of his own fellow travelers can be, but there’s a narrative at stake here and he knows his part in it. Nice job staying on-script, Steve.