It takes a special kind of hubris to stand all puffed-up not just before the simpatico audience at CPAC, but also those watching from a distance online and claim that handling Madison protesters is just like dealing with extremists abroad, but that's what Scott Walker did during his speech.

Speaking about national security, Walker said, "I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to make sure radical Islamic threats do not wash up on American soil."

"We will have somebody who leads and ultimately will send a message that not only will we protect American soil, but do not take this upon freedom-loving people anywhere else in the world."

Here comes the zinger.

"We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I could take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world."

So that we're clear here, Scott Walker just compared American citizens exercising their right to free speech to violent, homicidal extremists in the Middle East.

What did Walker do to "take on" the Madison protesters? Well, he locked them out of the Capitol, threatened to call out the National Guard, had them arrested, and exposed himself as the corrupt Kochhead that he is.

It's not the first time comparisons have been made, either. In 2011, Rep. Paul Ryan compared Madison to Cairo, Egypt during the Arab Spring. Republicans, as you might recall, wanted Obama to bolster the Mubarak regime and help trample the protests underway.

Anyone who thinks that American citizens protesting the loss of their right to organize and belong to labor unions is anything like the violent extremists beheading, burning and executing people in Syria is automatically disqualified for the Presidency. Period.

Endnote: This comment from the ever-brilliant Jon Perr:

Walker’s union-busting would be perfect experience, if ISIS recruits had to join the International Brotherhood of Sunni Jihadists. But my understanding is that Iraq, Syria and Libya are already RTW (Right to Wahabi) states.

Update: Recognizing the awfulness of what Walker said, his spokeswoman issued a statement to "clarify":

Kristen Kukowski, communications director for Walker’s 527 organization, sends along this statement: Governor Walker believes our fight against ISIS is one of the most important issues our country faces. He was in no way comparing any American citizen to ISIS. What the governor was saying was when faced with adversity he chooses strength and leadership. Those are the qualities we need to fix the leadership void this White House has created.

Here's the problem with that. It's a smooth denial, but it suggests that Walker was preening without the first clue of what ISIS is actually about, or else it's BS. There isn't any other way to interpret that. "Strength and leadership" are nice-sounding words that don't mean a damn thing.