A note to Tea Party activists: This is not the movie you think it is. You probably imagine that you re starring in The Birth of a Nation, but you re actually just extras in a remake of "Citizen Kane."

The last time a Democrat sat in the White House, he faced a nonstop witch hunt by his political opponents. Prominent figures on the right accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of everything from drug smuggling to murder. And once Republicans took control of Congress, they subjected the Clinton administration to unrelenting harassment at one point taking 140 hours of sworn testimony over accusations that the White House had misused its Christmas card list.

Utah Republicans have denied Robert Bennett, a very conservative three-term senator, a place on the ballot, because he s not conservative enough. In Maine, party activists have pushed through a platform calling for, among other things, abolishing both the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education. And it s becoming ever more apparent that real power within the G.O.P. rests with the ranting talk-show hosts.