I am fully convinced that the Republicans (and to a lesser extent the Democrates) are painfully aware of just how uninformed and unengaged the American public is, as well as how docile and non-confrontational the press corps is. They have made a cynical and calulated decision to simply lie their asses off. They know full well that the number of people that swallow it wholesale will be far greater than the ones who see what's going on, and of the ones that call them on their bullshit, most of those will be from the opposing camp anyway, and therefore not a potential vote, so it doesn't matter.

Just lie to us. It works. If we are on your side we won't hold it against you, -we'll probably just praise you for your boldness and 'winner take all' strategy. Your 'guts'. Besides, what is Truth anyway? American politics increasingly operates in the religious paradigm where Truth is not something that exists independently, but rather is pronounced by the authority you swear your allegiance to. You don't observe it, you have it told to you.

It's sickening. Part of me just gets mad and thinks we deserve what we get, but another part of me knows that's not really fair when the press is so completely an organ of the corporations and both parties. The public (as an aggragate entity) doesn't really have much of a chance. Now both parties each have their own 24 cable news channel, so we can choose our propaganda...or go somewhere else for the corporate alternative.