Here’s yet another story
about Republicans at a McCain rally, chomping at the bit, fighting mad, seething with rage, however you want to describe it. And they are not only yelling out nasty (and totally false) things about Obama. They are mad at McCain for not taking his campaign even further into the gutter.
What’s striking to me is how some of these folks seem bewildered with how we could possibly be where we are: with a Democrat poised to win an election.
“Why is Obama where he's at?” one man asks. “Everyone in this room is stunned.”*
Well, when you divorce yourself from reality for eight years, when you only watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh, when you’re so far down in the echo chamber that you don’t even hear alternative voices or views, then yes, I suppose it is shocking to find out the rest of the country has left you behind.
In 2000 and 2004, I had a number of heated discussions with conservatives. And what really got to me about those discussions was not that we disagreed about what was best for the country; it was that we often seemed to be living in different countries—different realities, really.
It’s hard to have an intelligent discussion if you can’t agree on the facts. And there are too many on both sides who are so caught up in their own political subcultures that they simply can’t hear or see things that don’t fit with their worldview.
It’s difficult to see how we’re going to really move this country forward as long as such a large portion of the citizenry want to engage in so much denial and willful ignorance. What’s even worse is the possibility that some of that is spilling over into rage and violence.
* - The exact quote was in an early version of the online Post story. It seems to have been cut in later versions. But similar expressions of disbelief were quoted.
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