What of this media firestorm surrounding the once little-known Hilary Rosen? Jon Stewart is a bit stunned that Rosen's anti-mom comments became the story the week, but he has a theory: This is just a sign of the beginning of the general election.

Republicans, who for the several months have only been gnawing at each other, can finally pounce on the prey they've been wanting: Barack Obama, and any liberal they can associated with him—however tenuously. "All the firepower the right was wasting on each other, has been retrained on their actual opponents," Stewart says. "It's like Democrats didn't realize they had gone from England to America where traffic is now coming from the other direction."

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dgrandoni at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.