You ever wonder why politicians and their "strategists" continue to use tactics and schemes that have only the thinnest connection to truth or reality?  I’ll tell you why; it’s because there are enough people ready to believe the BS that it’s worth their while to do it.  In other words, enough of us are dumb or naive enough to believe it that they know they’ll lock up enough votes to make it worth their time and effort to sling this hash.

You wonder what I’m talking about?  Right now the easy examples involve Barack Obama.  It’s not news that some of the Fox-wannabes and Limbaugh lites have been playing with his middle name (Hussein) for effect, or that they’re playing to the xenophobic segment of the population by painting him as some sort of Muslim mole in the supposedly Christian US.  Now some dope has concocted an email that purports to be from syndicated columnist Maureen Dowd and floats all kinds of crazy accusations about Obama’s online fundraising coming mostly from places in the Middle East, like Iran and Saudi Arabia.  The email has been debunked, but I guarantee you that those that want to believe it will, and they will spread it like a virus.

Why do I think this is true?  Because I’ve been in my barbershop and heard a guy say, in all seriousness, that if Obama wins we’ll be kneeling toward Mecca in no time.  I’ve heard, repeatedly, that ours is a Christian nation and that a Muslim should not be elected president.  It’s tempting to argue with people about the accuracy of calling our nation a Christian nation (I think it would be news to the Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, atheist and "other" citizens of the United States), to explain that many of our founding fathers were not Christian (try explaining what a Deist is to someone), but when you get right down to it these folks don’t care.  They are predisposed to believe this crap, and they swallow it whole and then regurgitate it to anyone who will listen.

And no this phenomenon is not unique to the red-meat conservatives.  You can bet that there is and will continue to be plenty of flimsy poop being flung at McCain that the left wingnuts will gladly wallow in and share.  And that my friend is the problem.  Both sides know that we are bored by the "issues", that we’re drawn like moths to a flame to stories that prove that the one we oppose is somehow alien, is not one of us, and thus must be feared and beaten at all costs.  And the media?  They love it because they get to sell advertising, so their job is to simply facilitate the process and highlight the ludicrous.

All of this is nothing new and will continue long after the elections in November.  Thankfully, though, the election will at least end the high political "season" and we can get back to pondering things like Janet Jackson’s nipple.