"This is how liberty dies -- to thunderous applause."

Who'da thunk that this bit of trenchant, timely political criticism comes from none other than the Dark Lord himself, George Lucas?

A.O. Scott, in Monday's Times:

"This is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause," Padmé observes as senators, their fears and dreams of glory deftly manipulated by Palpatine, vote to give him sweeping new powers. "Revenge of the Sith" is about how a republic dismantles its own democratic principles, about how politics becomes militarized, about how a Manichaean ideology undermines the rational exercise of power. Mr. Lucas is clearly jabbing his light saber in the direction of some real-world political leaders. At one point, Darth Vader, already deep in the thrall of the dark side and echoing the words of George W. Bush, hisses at Obi-Wan, "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." Obi-Wan's response is likely to surface as a bumper sticker during the next election campaign: "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes."

(Are these out on CafePress yet?  Someone so needs to Photoshop those little Darth Maul horns and Sith-lord makeup onto Dubya.)