The Republicans are going "all in"...counting on the mid terms in 2010 to get the House back. There will not be bipartisanship on any important bill whatsoever. The sooner the Dems and, more importantly, Obama, recognise this - the better off they will be.

It is strange that I read this today. Last night I watched a Nova movie about Galileo and his confrontation with the Inquisition. He felt that if he presented his facts, drawings,and statistics that he could prove to the church that the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around. He found out that when facts come up against religious beliefs, the person who brings the facts loses.

For years I have wondered why seemingly normal and intelligent Republicans could deny demonstratable facts.Last night I finally realized why: Republican conservatism is being practiced like a fundementalist religion.

karl Rove..
smart fellow..

knew that 'fear' will work on all people, scare the heck outta everybody to start wars around the world, good business for war profiteers, and subcontractors also..
speaking of fear, try this website here:
http://leadingtowar.com/

Carl Rove and his followers fall into the same category as Adolph Hitler, and Hitler was also backed by the same type of insane Fundalmentist who set out to incite riots.

"...18,000 US citizens die every year needlessly, because they can't access the care they require. That's equivalent to six 9/11s, every year..."

This gives me an idea.

Why not have a national "celebration" on the 11th day of every other month to commemorate the 3,000 Americans killed by insurance companies and a lack of health care?

There are great many people in our country who are just not that bright...too much TV, poor nutrition, inbreeding, lack of education, addiction, and often poverty have combined to make a population that has just enough brain cells to get scared and start flapping around like a flock of crazed chickens. They just don't have the brain power to figure anything out- they only know what they are spoonfed by clever, manipulative corporate heads who are extremely bright, if lacking in integrity. They have been buying a lot of guns too.

I agree, they should just have been allowed to keep the South and form their own dysfunctional country. Can we just give them Texas, build a big fence around it, let them stew in thier own mess, and call it a day?

Sorry, didn't read the article. I'm just going to reply to the title:
Unreason has not triumphed in America. It only appears to have, because the corporate-owned media tends to concentrate on individual nutcases rather than real issues.

I quote: "while Republicans get away with defending a status quo that kills 18,000 people a year."

I cannot figure out why the Commonwealth Fund study at http://tinyurl.com/cox25y is never quoted -- it arrives at 101,000 fatalities:

Overall, the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008, finds that the U.S. is losing ground in providing access to care and has uneven health care quality. The Scorecard also finds broad evidence of inefficient and inequitable care. Average U.S. performance would have to improve by more than 50 percent across multiple indicators to reach benchmark levels of performance. Closing performance gaps would bring realbenefits in terms of health, patient experiences, and savings. For example:

--Up to 101,000 fewer people would die prematurely each year from causes amenable to health care if the U.S. achieved the lower mortality rates of leading countries.
--Thirty-seven million more adults would have an accessible primary care provider, and ---70 million more adults would receive all recommended preventive care.
--The Medicare program could potentially save at least $12 billion a year by reducing readmissions or by reducing hospitalizations for preventable conditions.
--Reducing health insurance administrative costs to the average level of countries with mixed private/public insurance systems (Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland) would free up $51 billion, or more than half the cost of providing comprehensive coverage to all the uninsured in the U.S. Reaching benchmarks of the best countries would save an estimated $102 billion per year.

The longer a system of ignorance, inequality and bullshit is maintained by force and lies, the harder it will fall.

Be ready.

It's amazing that more of the people who have a vested interest in this system haven't done more to moderate it, to keep it from the brink...

Can't sell cars to people who live in them.

Zardoz.

ray el camino your so right referring to his not standing up to their lies. he needs to put the gloves ON and give these clowns
a mike tyson sized beat down. all these people understand is that. you don't fight fire with fire. an extinguisher is
necessary. first thing though is a trip to the sports authority
to get a set of balls. this is a time when the bazooka is needed
to take care of the mosquitoes. after that even less relevancy.

Sioux Rose

I smell the same type of Hollywood scene-setting here as was often the case with staged Bush events. So much media attention aimed AT obama by the right wing lunatics, so that THE story is about what Obama appears to be up against. How convenient (said in the tone uttered by Dana Carvey in his enactments of "Church Lady" on Saturday Night Live) if it's all about moving the political spectrum further to the right.

The emphasis on protests from the right, the abundant angst on the part of the right-wing true believers, all LENDS form to this idea that there still remain two parties with politically opposed objectives.

What I also see here reminds me of the dismembering of Iraq. We know oil and holding onto the power and influence of the US dollar were major objectives, and yet the "law" of unintended consequences comes into play. In terms of Obama, rousing the hate fest on the right may lead to unintended consequences of a rash/vast nature. Is Mr. diplomatic milque toast aware of what that can mean, or generate?

My point is that the author of this article PRESUMES Obama wants a health care reform, as opposed to (his leit-motif) the actual giveaway to the various corporatist moguls (in this particular case it's the insurance big whigs) that seem to hold politicians by the tail these days.

(Hi from Puerto Rico, everyone!)

anti bellum south? nah empty bellum is more acceptable.
cygnus your right in must of your statements how ever the
bbc appears to have started its descent into its role as
a place for fascist propaganda and mis or half truths.
perhaps murdoch weaseled his slimy self into some power
role there! yeah cygnus bill was something else and the
world is a poorer place after his passing. i saw him a few times
and his were the only comedy cds i ever bought. max payne
leaders are a thing of the past and any alleged leader is
carefully screened by corp. amerika before their approved
for the puppet show ensues. a real president hasn't been elected since roosevelt and the powers that be thought they were getting
a different puppet than the person who changed the us in
ways that brought their private party to a complete and
final halt! every once and a while a real one appears and
is quickly dispatched with a range of propaganda that
most of america is too stupid to discern. the rich ALWAYS
get what they pay for!everyone posting on this story added
some thoughtful idea's and that's what makes cd such
a wonderful place.thanks folks. this is what america
used to be. in 1960 nixon and kennedy traveled together
in the same plane and although their ideology was different
there was a civility that has gone by the wayside and shout
downs and open hostility is the order of the day. for the
most part most of us here act like they did and treat each other in a way that was america.

The 18 thousand deaths a year number is actually almost a decade out of date. In 2002 the Institute of Medicine released a meticulously researched study that found 18 thousand people had died from a lack of health insurance during 2000. Last year the Urban Institute used the IOM's research methods to update the numbers: In 2006 it was 22 thousand dead from lack of health insurance.

Either way, we are talking about well over a hundred thousand dead since the illegal invasion of Iraq. That is more people than live in cities like Allentown, PA, or Midlands, Texas. All dead, so that insurance corporations could see their profits rise by 1000% during roughly the same time period.

I agree that dellusional right-wing whack jobs, spewing belligerance and shutting down public debate, is a cause for alarm. But I am frankly much more frightened by the way the corporate owned media has latched on this very small, albiet vocal, minority in order to pretend that a soundly defeated and rebuked ideological movement is still relevant. Even more frightening is the way that the corporate owned Democrat party seems anxious to seize on this as an excuse to ignore the desperate, pressing needs of their constituents, in order to give in to the greedy wants of the insurance corporations.

The corporate media is not going to give true reform (i.e. single payer) a fair hearing, and the Democrat party will not lead us in this matter, either. Only a true grassroots uprising will get this done. If you read blog sites like Common Dreams and support single payer than you really need to get involved in organizing. Complaining online about what a sell out Obama is won't do anything (granted, he IS a sell out). It is almost certain that you live in a community where people are organizing for single-payer--these folks are fighting for you and your family and they need your help. If you are already organizing, then it is time to organize harder. Reach out to your "non political" friends and family and help them see that under the current system of health care delivery, their families are at real and immediate risk for untimely death or financial ruin, even if the THINK they have "good health insurance." The fact is, only the very, very wealthy are insulated in our current, inhumane, greed-driven system. Everybody else is in danger, and it is time that they behave like responsbile adults and take steps to protect themselves.

Briggs Seekins
brigggsseekins.wordpress.com

The how of Republican delusion is quite simple. For most of the last century, the US has promoted through government and media the belief in a communist conspiracy. With the communists out of the picture, the same warped "explanations" are now applied in any way that suits the preconceptions. Any who would challenge this are already compromised by their earlier beliefs.

There is more to it than delusion on the Right. Karl Rove is on to something about human (or at least American) psychology that is hard for most of us to grasp. Rovians attack their enemies' strengths, sometimes in absurd ways. But it works.

Remember how the Repugs attacked Kerry in 2004 for his war record (including multiple medals won)? How could they do that when their own candidate was a draft dodger? But it worked.

Now they are attacking any expansion of gov't role in health care by holding up Canada and the UK systems as horrible negative examples, even though "everyone knows" the NHS of those countries provide far better and more efficient care than ours. How do they do that? Why does it work?

We need to figure this out.

This explains why and how:

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Society/Conservatives_Deconstruct.html

Troy Davis digs it. "Republicans and Southerners." Like dog shit and cess pools, they do have a lot in common. I drove a truck through the south and the shit-kicking, "nigger," hating mentnality is pervasive. Confederate flags, Easy Rider Rifle Racks, and Red Necks everywhere. The South played a critical role keeping the GOP in power-Bushit one.

We should have given General Sherman permission to raze every hectare below kintucky and west virginya as he requested.

Not just, blacks, women are 2nd class citizens in the South-less they bake real good and know when to stay quiet. Not to mention Jews, Asians and all others NotLikeThem.......CancerousCountry the South, how come I left-Sad, it is so pretty in terms of the landscape.

When did real Americans cede that land to Haters?

If us libs and progs had any real balls, we'd be showing up at wingnut 'townhalls' and asking questions like:

"Congressman R, 18,000 American citizens die everyday due to their inability to afford both medical care and health insurance. Why are you claiming that OUR government's effort to save 18,000 Americans per year is a socialist, fascist Nazi plan? My understanding of history is that Nazis were busy murdering tens of millions of innocent people, not trying to find ways to save 18,000 per year?"

Or we can just keep blogging and ranting to ourselves - yet another of 'our' plans that is clearly working spectacularly!

this article jumps around from point to point without a point

first off, the author has been called out in previous posts when the author stated obama was anti-conservative, which he is not. he has continued all of the imperial war mongering of the bushco admin and has enhanced the wars everywhere all the time doctrine of the pax americana.

he has put mccrystal in charge of aghanistan - truly a psychotic assassin who has been conducting murder and torture on behalf of the corporations for over twenty years. the man belongs on the gallows but not for brother obama who has elevated him to the command of the next imperial war - in afghanistan.

the author also states that obama won in a landslide - not true. obama got 52% of the vote and he lost the white vote - hardly a landslide.

given that obama was running against and intellctually challenged 72 year old man who has had four cancers - a man whose running mate was the nut from alaska sarah you betcha palin - 52% is not a huge margin of victory.

i predict that obama's popularity, which has started to implode will plummet as time goes on and i think he will wind up doing the impossible - make bush baby seem like he was not that bad.

like the color coded terror alerts and the "freedom and democracy in iraq" bullshit we no longer hear anything about the "audacity of hope" do we.

obama's inner circle differs from bush's in that he has more wall street vampires than bush. now we have the wall street - goldman sachs - dual israeli/american citizenship cabal in charge of looting the treasury.

that's obama's change you can believe in for you.

his leadership skills have shown themselves to be vapid at best, cynical to the core and without moral substance.

i am getting sick of watching the cult of obama on tv - the trip to london, the trip to paris, the trip to the grand canyon, the clam bake in the back yard. enough already.

while obama parties on though, as this article points out there are disturbing things going on all over the country. i don't believe this can be dismissed a right wing lunacy though.

working people from pillar to post have lost their jobs, many cases their houses, have their credit wiped out, have seen their earning power devastated on the one hand while at the same time we see the banks on wall street walking off with 13 trillion dollars in welfare checks without so much as a thank you suckers.

28 billion (at least) of the bail out money has gone to "bonuses". bonuses to men and women who ran their companies into the ground and put our entire economic system at risk for a quick money ponzi scheme that should have seen them all put in jail.

our industrial base has been gutted - often by the government who subsidized wal mart and others to move our jobs to communist china - again for a quick buck.

so yes - people are angry - damn angry and maybe dangerously angry but they have every right to be so. our leaders have stolen and otherwise squandered our nation's bounty and wealth down to the last dime and left us on the verge of insolvency.

there are good reasons to be angry.

" Last week, one of the Republicans sent to disrupt a healthcare town hall started a fight and was injured - and then complained he had no health insurance. I didn't laugh; I wanted to weep." Gee, I laughed my ass off when I read that. Serves the SOB right! Hope the bastard dies! When are, so called progressives, going to stop being such candy ass wimps? Look at Obama, he's more of a chicken shit than Jimmy Carter. In fact, Carter has principles unlike Obama. We need to vote third party next time around. Too bad Americans are not sophisticated enough for that. Again, it's "change you can forget about".
This was a good article. It speaks to the core of the republican insanity. The corporate media insanity needs to be emphasized as well. Anyone who thinks that the news media are NOT the enemy of freedom and knowledge is living in a fantasy world as well. Turn off the TV news if you want to learn something. Even NPR is a right wing media source now. It makes me sick. All they have on are right wing shills with a few sane people sprinkled in to keep people listening.

I suppose we should let the right-wingers and religious nuts have their day. There isn't any legal or ethical way so-called 'progressives' can stop them anyway unless they adopt the same crude tactics - which they won't. Not until the reactionaries have thoroughly shown their depravity beyond political spin and have alienated even their most rabid supporters will the populace actually do anything about them. The current healthcare 'conflict' has shown that most Americans don't care about anybody but themselves, and have no idea of a commonwealth. If they have healthcare they don't care if anyone else does. That lack of concern about their neighbors inevitably spells doom for any society.

So let the reactionaries have their way and do their worst. Let them re-capture the government and run it into the ground. Let them make endless war against us and the rest of the world. Let them recreate their own twisted version of history. Let them squeeze any other opinion off the airwaves. Let them bankrupt the country in pursuit of their insanity. Let them do their best to destroy the environment and global cooperation. Let them achieve the apotheosis they so devoutly pursue. Let them do all these things in pursuit of their extremist dreams, for until they achieve their perhaps unintended goal to make all Americans global pariahs and the country un-livable they will not be driven permanently out of it. Anything short of their well-earned and permanent exile will not be enough. It is a sacrifice this generation of Americans may have to make to return what is left of our society to some semblance of sanity. If they're not up to the challange, then we are, and probably should be, doomed.

It's not just "faith" that is the problem. All religions teach "magical thinking"--the belief in scientifically impossible contradictions, like a virgin birth or talking bushes, that people then absorb as reality. People immersed in denial and magical thinking can easily believe that "god" will save them from global warming, illness, etc. Their real fear is of--surprise--reality! This means, of course, that there is no reasoning with them, as Hari notes. Obama has to play hardball, realpolitick, or the rest of us will be sucked into their fantastical world--without a paddle.

"Obama - a black man with an anti-conservative message"

Talk about being impervious to reality!

Boycott Anthony Bourdain, the meat Nazi:

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these water heads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold."

- Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential

The election of Obama - a black man with an anti-conservative message . . .

There's your first mistake, Mr. Hari. Obama is not preaching an "anti-conservative message". Quite the contrary. Obama is the Anthony Bourdain of American politics; he has a 4 year show called "Eat Shit, My Fellow Americans". The tough guys bringing guns to so-called "town hall meetings" are, in effect, futurologists signaling Superman's electoral demise in 3 1/2 years.

It is almost as if the Enlightenment has not occurred for the crowd whom now dominate the GOP. In fact, they wish to lurch the USA, then the World back to those bad old days. Johann Hari is correct, reasoned dialogue is currently impossible with these delusional nut bags, and it well past time to move forward with a progressive agenda. As for the GOP, they should be given this choice: come along kicking and screaming, or be left to rot. I would prefer rot; that way, their ideology finds its' deserved place in the dustbin of history.

"So a streak that has always been there in the American right's world-view--to deny reality, and argue against a demonic phantasm of their own creation--has swollen. Now it is all they can see."

Hari is talking about the Bubble People. That's what I've called them for the last few years. I wrote about them just yesterday:
http://lefthooktheblog.blogspot.com/

This is why I often times sought after media outside of US especially Britain. Well established and so called professional media is not calling out these lunatics and their lies but instead treat them as objectives news that should be reported. I am fully convinced that there is no way that another Iraq debacle can be stopped with this kind citizenry. I used to believe that the problem was with George W Bush but I am now convinced that deep inside this is what America is all about!

Back in the summer of '64, I thought Barry Goldwater was an extremist wacko. Butt today's GOP by comparison, makes Barry look completely sane.
Going from Goldwater & Dirkson to Caribou Barbie, Flush Limpdick, Trannie Coulter, & "Joe the Plumber", I never thought that I would be an eye witness to devolution.

As the writer points out religion has taught faith and based on faith a great number of Americans suffer.

In balance to faith and faith based religion is logic and reason that is supposed to be taught in our system of public education but is quite lacking.

Had Americans a solid foundation of logic and reason they would not have had faith that the guy in the expensive suit was giving them a variable rate loan that was good for them but would have been able to reason that at some point in the future economic conditions like job loss and varying interest rates might cross paths and they would find themselves thrown out of what they thought was a good investment instead of a place to live.

It is of course important to our rich rulers that their children are in private education and the public is in the dumbed down schools and are given educations that are more about upsetting social arrangements than logic and reason. The public is then only paying attention to the flash and bangs in life not the reality of it.

A little faith and coaching from the media and the people will actually believe that wars on drugs or wars on terror are not actually theft of their money,their rights and their liberty and policies to further fatten the wallets of the ruling class but sound and prudent policy.

We will be faced with this crap until we the people demand better education for our children and educate ourselves about the politics that dominate us.

It sounds like the author is simply asking for a new Fairness Doctrine and anti-trust action against the media giants.

Why doesn't he just say so?

Until the airwaves are returned to their rightful owners, the people, we'll be subject to endless attack on our rights, freedoms and taxes.

It will not end until the ability to control the message is ripped from the claws of the corporate fascists.

They invent reality with their third rate propaganda campaigns rolled out largely over AM radio and free t.v.

And the people, predictably, lap it up.

The late Bill Hicks sums it up perfecty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Indeed: Faith-based thinking spreads and contaminates the rational. Call it inheriting the wind; forty years of trash entertainment, anti-social culture and degredation of public education has given us a permanent yahoo class, slaves to the televised fantasies that give some form to their meaningless lives.
Tony Vodvarka

Well well. It turns out after all that maybe Obama was never meant to be a leader to begin with. For the most part I could never trust Obama ever since 2007 when he started playing flip-flop on everything but on the last minute I held out and decided to just vote Obama just to turn VA blue. Now, it appears that Obama has turned out to be even worse than then Governor Mark Warner (2002-2005) of waiting for the GOP to self-destruct and yet playing go-along-get-along with them. Furthermore, his "make me do it" excuse for allowing the corporate dictators to call the shots is a strong sign that Obama not only can't lead but that he won't. Obama and Congress are working that hard to go down in flaming defeat and by golly, they're far more likely to get it come 2010 and 2012.