Well, we knew that the fake controversy over the Department of Homeland Security's domestic-terrorism report was really all about whipping up paranoia among the Republicans' right-wing-populist footsoldiers.

But we really didn't expect their leading officials and pundits, like Michael Steele and Sean Hannity, to be hearing the black helicopters whupping overhead already:

Steele: You know, they've got their eye on the 3,000 Americans who assembled in Indiana last night, in Evansville, Indiana, to profess their continued effort to save the life of the unborn. Sarah Palin and myself and 3,000 other Americans who're concerned about the life issue were gathered there. And I'm sure there was somebody in the room with a notepad and a camera taking snapshots and writing down names.

Of course, Steele is just doing his part. The more paranoiac, the merrier.

I'm realizing why so many people at the Seattle Tea Tantrum were looking at me so suspiciously. It wasn't that they thought I might be liberal; it was that they thought I was a DHS agent.