And so it begins. If you were unaware, the Mainstream Media is beginning its process to transform the shrill, petty, dangerously vindictive and manipulatively toxic Hillary Rodham Clinton into the awesome Hillary Clinton: glamorous former first lady, brave and powerful Secretary of State, decisive and effective former Senator.

Will they run the fictitious story of her dodging sniper bullets in the Balkans? How she helped President Obama win Iraq, even though she argued against every decision he made? How she checked Russia’s ambitions in Syria? How superbly she overpowered Congressional Republicans questioning her involvement in Benghazi?

Almost probably, given that there is so little positive traction to her biography. Hillary Clinton’s political career consists almost exclusively of her being given enormous positions of responsibility and producing absolutely nothing positive.

Democrats hope you forget all that, and to help, they are launching a powerful campaign to transform her into America’s next president. Of course, they also hope you forget that she tried this once before and lost out to an intellectual lightweight in 2008. The worst part is she knew Obama was a fraud and even called him out in the famous 3am call ad; no, the worst part actually was the 3am call that came about Benghazi that went unanswered. She was sadly right that Obama was certain to be a failure; even still, she not only failed to beat him in the primaries, but even went to work for this guy.

Rarely have Democrats been so damned certain that their candidate will win the presidency while, at the same time, having someone so painfully unelectable. Truly, her only real selling point is that she’s a woman, and because Democrats are condemned to the hell of identity politics, they presume that 100% of women will vote for her simply because of her gender.

Even so, Republicans have considerable reason to worry: Republicans almost invariably lose the Presidency to someone totally unelectable. They are good at it, and they are also engaging in transformational politics.

Remember when John McCain was transformed into an economic genius? Or Mitt Romney was transformed into a warm, caring guy? Or Bob Dole was transformed into a technology-savvy conservative? Basically, only two Republican candidates in the last generation did not fundamentally transform themselves to appeal to a wider base: Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. They ran, for better or for worse, on who they really were. As you know, both won.

So stand by: you will see Rand Paul transform himself into a middle-centric candidate, Chris Christie transform himself into a tax-cutting conservative, and Rick Santorum transform himself into a flexible, accommodating guy. Marco Rubio will attempt to transform himself into a seasoned, cagey strategist. None of this will appeal to the independent voters.

On the other hand, if the Czar were to pick a candidate less likely to transform his image, it would immediately be Ted Cruz. While Cruz is no angel and is exceptional at eventually rubbing people the wrong way, he probably could skip the whole transformative phase and run on who he is. And that might carry him over extremely well in the primaries if undecided voters like his straight-shooting style and lack of squishiness. We’ll see.

Either way, pay attention. The process has already started among the candidates; it is important for us to remember who the candidates were when no one was watching.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.