I'm not sure what to make of the fact that one of the names right-wingers have for Hillary Clinon is Oinkubus.

It makes me think that maybe, as a follow-up to Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro ought to try filming the nightmarescape that is the right-wing subconscious. I'm serious -- I know "Oinkubus" is supposed to be a big funny in Wingnuttistan, but I sense there's an element of fear behind it. A pig plus a being with supernatural powers -- why would this seem like an apt description of Hillary to right-wingers?

I'm not even going to assume they know what "incubus" means:

In medieval European folklore, the incubus is a male demon (or evil spirit) who visits women in their sleep to lie with them in ghostly sexual intercourse. The woman who falls victim to an incubus will not awaken, although may experience it in a dream. Should she get pregnant the child will grow inside her as any normal child, except that it will possess supernatural capabilities. Usually the child grows into a person of evil intent or a powerful wizard....

The word incubus is Latin for "nightmare".

I assume they think it's just some supernatural thing. But why that?

Right-wingers do think Democrats and liberals have skills and wiles and subterfuges through which we thwart the laws and the will of the people and ordinary morality (all of which they think they embody). But they also think we're pathetic losers (see their characterizations of Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry, which went mainstream and became the conventional wisdom).

Hence, "incubus" + "oink."

On the other hand, pigs aren't just funny in a Porky Pig way. They're also repulsive. In addition, they're linked to evil in recent popular culture -- Hannibal, the Nine Inch Nails "Closer" video, the Saw movies -- but I'm not sure that's a factor in this case. In any case, note that an even more popular nickname for Hillary Clinton in some right-wing circles is PIAPS -- "Pig in a Pants Suit."

Oh, and another favorite is "the Hildebeast" -- as in (in one series of T-shirts) "Extinguish the Hildebeast."

Lefties mock Bush for looking like a chimp (which he does), but I don't know of any mockery of Bush that taps into the notion that he's monstrous in a way that's beyond human. Ditto for Cheney and the whole damn lot of 'em. So what's up with righties and Hillary?

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(Yes, I'm aware of Jenn Rose's "Oinkubus" sculpture -- which, it seems to me, bears more of a resemblance to Dennis Hastert than it does to Hillary. Whoops! Now I'm doing it.)