Facts are stupid things... Ronald Reagan

Since the rise of Ronald Reagan to national political prominence there has been one ideological trait that best defines the GOP and modern conservatism - they are divorced from reality. This malady has now reached the Supreme Court, where Justice Antonin Scalia, the product of a Jesuit education, has betrayed that order's tradition of a continual search for truth by his acceptance of outdated and biased information - and even urban legend - as fact.

Antonin Scalia may have once passed the bar exam, but he can't gain admittance to the reality-based community.  Here's why:

Something happened this week that makes me wonder if I'm living in the same world I thought I was in - or if perhaps I've warped into some alternate universe. Briefly, here's the gist of what happened:

Our esteemed President goes overseas and visits Israel.

In honor of Israel's 60th birthday he gives a speech to the Knesset - the Israeli parliament.

In this speech he invokes Nazi Germany, the 1939 invasion of Poland, and the  "false comfort of appeasement."

OK, up until this point everything seems pretty much like the world I was used to ... George Bush makes moronic statement - nothing to see here ... move along.  BUT ... the ensuing week sees a whole host of reactions and yet nowhere can I find a blogger, reporter, or columnist point out the  obvious ... I mean, c'mon ... he was standing in Israel, right? OK, let's connect the dots one time, just to see if I've really been transported to an alternate universe.

John McCain ditched his first wife and married Cindy Hensley, a woman twenty years younger, the very next month.

Vicki Iseman, the female lobbyist central to the NYTimes story on McCain, looks like an even younger version of Cindy McCain.

Lobbyists. Lots of lobbyists. Chief among them Charles Black - who has moved his office right onto the "Straight Talk Express." Can't get much cozier than that.

Pledged not to raise taxes.  Do I hear the echo of laughter?

Build a bigger wall. Secure our borders. Waitresses, fast-food clerks, busboys and gardeners are the crux of our problems.

Against the religious right before he was for it.
Against the Bush tax cuts before he was for them.

...and on and on and on ...

Does this sound like a 'maverick' or just another right-wing slimeball?

Let's put him to music ... perhaps some Zappa ...

The Clinton campaign has sought unsuccessfully to find a winning message.  It's not for lack of trying:

... Clinton has left behind a rubble of themes adopted and abandoned: At first, she was "renewing the promise of America." Then, she was "In to Win." She was "Working for Change, Working for You." She offered not just "strength and experience" but also "the strength and experience to make change happen" and "the change we need." She’s "the Hillary I know," who will "turn up the heat...turn America around." In the closing days of the race, she started offering a "new beginning."

The shifting, carefully measured words reflect some of the strengths of her campaign but some of its most visible weaknesses. They’re the product of years of meticulous polling, layers of advisers, and evidence of a detailed understanding of what Iowans and Americans want to hear. But they also reflect more perspiration than inspiration. And they don’t have a beat you can dance to.

... and that was just in Iowa!

There were 12 states in 2004 where neither the Republican nor Democratic candidate was able to get more than 52.5% of the vote.  Six of the 12 went for George Bush and 6 went for John Kerry.

The question Democrats need to ask themselves (and should have been asking themselves for the past month) is: Which of our candidates can win these Purple States?

It's not too late for a reality check. Let's take a look ...

The January 17, 2001 edition of The Onion carried this headline:

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

In George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 The Party had three memorable slogans:

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

Yesterday George W. Bush gave a speech to CPAC. Join me as we explore why when Bush speaks, Orwell turns (over in his grave) and The Onion sniggers (at seeing their faux headlines become reality).

We've all seen where Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter claim they'd vote for Hillary Clinton before they'd vote for presumptive GOP Presidential nominee John McCain.  We snigger, we laugh, we point with glee at the virtual train wreck that is today's Republican Party.  

Yeah, well, take a look around.  There are plenty of Democratic asshats using up valuable oxygen. And though they may not have a prominent celebrity spokesman like Limbaugh or Coulter - they're far more numerous than you'd imagine and they can be found everywhere.  Let's look around the web to find some examples ...

When the Obama campaign released its January fundraising totals - $32 million - it turned quite a few heads.  Of course we were all waiting for the other shoe to drop - what were Hillary's numbers for the same period?  Now we know.  Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told Tim Russert Monday evening that her campaign raised "about 13 million, $13.5 million" in January. While in and of itself that's a formidable amount, it's far short of what the Obama campaign pulled in.  

There's no need for anonymity, though it is slightly embarrassing. I mean, you'd think a cynical, jaded, middle-aged, mid-western, mostly Caucasian male would find something better to do than obsess over every poll result, watch endless speech excerpts, and read countless diary entries with all the anxiety of having your first child.  

Of course recognizing the addiction is the first step toward recovery. Unfortunately I think this might be with me for awhile - at least until November.  Let me tell you my story ...

In a champagne soaked locker room after their stunning defeat of the formerly unbeaten New England Patriots, the New York Giants have decided they're not making the obligatory trip to Disneyland. Instead the team will be attending a Barack Obama rally in the Meadowlands on Monday.

Tiger Woods is an exception - a black man succeeding in the overwhelmingly white world of professional golf.

Barack Obama is an exception - a black man succeeding in the predominantly white world of Presidential politics.

... and if you reflexively think those two statements are true, then you're not the person you'd like to think you are.  The 'truth' of the two statements is a holdover of a slave-era mindset.

My friends, let me give you some straight talk .... if you haven't watched John McCain lately, you should.  It's an enlightening experience.  My friends, it can be an illuminating experience.  Hop aboard the Straight Talk Express and I'll tell you why.

The 2008 Democratic National Convention will have more than 4000 delegates.  Primaries and caucuses will determine the allegiance of 3253 (80%) of these delegates.  While the early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina have winnowed out the candidates and generated a lot of hot air - both in the blogosphere and the MSM - they've only decided about 3% of the pledged delegates.  

All these preliminary skirmishes have been fun, but now it's time to get serious. On February 5th HALF of all the pledged delegates will be selected. And late that night, when the final votes are counted, there's a good chance we'll know who the Democratic nominee is going to be ... join me on the flipside for a state-by-state look at the math ....

I just visited Google News and under U.S. news stories there was prominently displayed the headline Huckabee: Politicization of rape victims' deaths 'heartbreaking' The headline links to a CNN.com story about Huckabee and the Dumond parole. It struck me that once again in the Republican world view black is white and up is down.

I think there's a YouTube hit in someone's future.  Someone with the musical talent and equipment needs to slap it together and strike while the iron's hot. I'll even provide the first rough draft of the lyrics on the flip side - with apologies to John Lennon ....

The list of names keeps growing, but at the least it includes Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, Mike Scanlon, Duke Cunningham, David Safavian, Brett Wilkes, Bob Ney, Mitchell Wade, Conrad Burns, and Katherine Harris.  Perhaps it's time to add another name - Barbara Bonfiglio.

What, never heard of Barbara Bonfiglio?  As a lawyer/lobbyist at the powerful DC firm of Williams and Jensen the Center for Public Integrity says she holds the record for the most Political Action Committees controlled by a registered lobbyist - 31! Bonfiglio was also the treasurer of five separate 527 organizations connected to members of Congress and at least two "charities"; Tom DeLay's Celebrations for Children and Rick Santorum's Operation Good Neighbor. Bonfiglio was the treasurer of now disgraced and soon to be incarcerated Duke Cunningham's American Prosperity PAC

President Bush wants to create 70,000 more math and science teachers.  Yet nearly 1/3 of the programs targeted for elimination in his budget proposal are education programs.  His budget also provides large cuts in programs for technical education and education technology. Can you say 2 + 2 equals 3?

In Russia, they wore the same uniforms as other military officers, but the zampolit were political officers - ensuring that soldiers within the unit toed the Communist Party line.

Commissars, as they were originally titled, were first commissioned in the Russian Revolution - by the Imperial Army!  The Red Army soon adopted the position and early in their careers Stalin, Kruschev, and Brezchnev all served as zampolit.

American Commissars: The Bush Administration seems to have adopted its own version of the zampolit.  Look under any rock in this government you'll find another Bush crony or political hack whose only qualifications are loyalty to Bush and extremist ideology.