Zombies
The truly astonishing thing about the latest scandals besetting the Bush administration is that they stem from actions the administration took after the November elections, when Democratic control of Congress was a fait accompli.[...]
There are, I think, four possible, partial explanations. The first is Rudy-ex-machina-- the hope that the party will nominate somebody who is not perceived to be part of their current mess and who will sweep them back into power no matter how big a hole they may now be digging for him. The second is a strategy to make it impossible for the Democrats to pass any legislation, and then run against the do-nothing Democrats.
The third is that the alternative reality conveyed by the Republican media -- Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk -- has created a Republican activist base that is genuinely not reality-based, and from which the current generation of Republican pols is disproportionately drawn. And the fourth, pertaining specifically to the inability of the administration to stop politicizing government, is that good government is just not in their DNA. Bush and Rove are no more inclined to create a government based on such impartial values as law and science than they are to set up collective farms.
I think all of Meyerson's possibilities are spot on but I especially favor the third: Talk to any FOX "News"- watching, Rush Limbaugh-listening Republican zombie and you might as well be talking to a crazy person (OK, OK...). They simply live in a different reality where facts become "facts" (at best) and must conform to ideology. Anything that contradicts already held beliefs must be rationalized away or (more commonly) denied (and, it goes without saying, Bill Clinton is responsible for everything bad).
This is the fundamental problem with politics in 21st. century America: One side is utterly irrational. And there's no talking to a crazy person.
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i think that's it. i've tried over the years, go nowhere.
like the saying goes,
"never try to teach a pig to sing. it wastes your time and annoys the pig."
Posted by: sherry | March 28, 2007 at 09:15 AM
Pigs are preferable to most Repubs.
Just sayin'
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Posted by: spork_incident | March 28, 2007 at 09:26 AM
Good catch. I avoid the Neocon Post in general, so unfortunately I don't catch Meyerson very often.
And yes, with the help of Rush, Beck, Boortz and Fox, it is possible to watch "news" 24/7 and have not the slightest idea what is really happening.
Not that the rest of the MSM is doing much to help.
Posted by: Captain Goto | March 28, 2007 at 10:22 AM
I'm surprised that Fred Hiatt hasn't fired Meyerson yet. He seems to prefer the banalities of Broder and the crazyness of Krauthammer.
Television news, like entertainment television, is just a vehicle to get you to stick around for the next ad break.
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Posted by: spork_incident | March 28, 2007 at 01:26 PM