John McCain Is a Conservative Hack 0

The Nation (emphasis added):

. . . The administration’s guiding ideology was explained by the famous but anonymous Bush aide who informed reporter Ron Suskind of the impotence of the “reality-based community”–defined by said aide as individuals who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he explained. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality–judiciously, as you will–we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” The net consequences of this philosophy can be seen in Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, the Justice Department, the budget deficit, the housing crisis, the banking crisis, etc. And yet it retains a certain salience in the Alice in Wonderland atmosphere of our political system–particularly with what remains of the Republican base.

The McCain campaign is doubling down on this bet. Each new day brings a revelation that the candidate has lied, flip-flopped, appeared dazed and confused or has hypocritically contradicted himself from the day before, and the campaign’s response is always the same: “Liberalmedia, liberalmedia, liberalmedia.” When questioned by Politico.com about the naked lies the campaign has been peddling, spokesman Brian Rogers was explicit: “We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.” GOP strategist John Feehery was no less reticent about his disrespect for reporters and for reality: “The more the New York Times and the Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there’s a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she’s new, she’s popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent…. As long as those are out there, these little facts don’t really matter.”

In other words, as far as Republicans are concerned, truth is not a defense. If lies work, they lie.

When I was at the home today visiting my mother and attending the semi-annual care meeting (a routine review of treatment and progress), I also looked up my aunt. She was playing bridge–she is actually quite the cardshark–with three other old ladies.

One of them was the mother of a classmate of mine. The conversation slid into politics (as many of my conversations do) after I mentioned that First Son has seen combat in George Bush’s Glorious and Patriotic War for a Lie, and she said, “I can’t wait for Obama to win.”

The other old Southern white ladies looked at her a little funny.

Now, this is an old Southern white lady who, 40 years ago, had she been driving her “household help” home after a day’s work, might have expected her “household help” to sit in the back seat.

There was a little bit of discussion, because my Aunt said of Senator Obama, “Well, not him.”

I pointed out that elections are about who’s running, not about who we wished were running.

General agreement.

And I said, “Frankly, I would be happy just to see someone in the White House who is honest.”

More General Agreement, in spades.

I gave out an Obama sticker–the lady who was a mother of a classmate of mine said that she would put it on her door. (The world becomes very small in the home.)

Anyhoo–back the the quotation from The Nation:

Look at the record.

Republicans lie like cheap whores

Early and often.

Why persons of good will persist in believing them is beyond me.

Oh, yeah. Can anyone say, “Keating Five“?