I think the most accurate description of what I have observed lately in the political arena is the “fake but accurate” mentality that was pushed into centre stage by the Dan Rather/CBS memo scandal. More accurately, what I have seen is a rise in cognitive dissonance that leads to efforts to render irrelevant the empirical evidence brought forth by the “other side.” Take for example, this paraphrased exchange between my friend, who shall remain nameless for now, and a few others in a bulletin board:

BB DENIZEN: Yeah, but Bush wants gays to be second-class citizens – look at the federal marriage amendment!
OFJ’s FRIEND: Uh, it’s dead.
BB DENIZEN: Yeah, but look at the amendment!

Sometimes certain propositions become moot once evidence that renders it moot surfaces, and yet, in so many cases in the blogosphere and in the Presidential campaign itself, people have forgotten when, or even how, to stop.

Matt Margolis, at Blogs for Bush, takes note of some shenanigans from John Kerry:

George W. Bush has said, “We’re not going to have a draft, period.”

John Kerry’s fear mongering has a purpose. He is hiding something.

What John Kerry does not tell his supporters is that he supports ” “requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service.”

Despite the fact that the bill was made to sit in committee for it to rot in the cold hell of legislative limbo, despite the fact that the Republicans pulled it out of committee for it to be voted against, kicking and screaming, by a 402-2 vote, despite the fact that the Bush administration repeatedly has expressed its disinterest in a draft, John Kerry’s campaign continues to push the issue.

Despite the facts.

Today cognitive dissonance is not just an act of denial in the face of overwhelming evidence. Today it has become the weapon of choice.

Fake but accurate. Despite the facts.

Let me speculate here. I think it’s John Kerry who wants a draft. Since it was on his campaign website (before it wasn’t, now mirrored on B4B) that he would require national service of our student population. His campaign statements idicting the president’s “incompetence” in managing Iraq always involve the scare tactic that Bush will be “forced” to reinstate the draft to correct things. Despite the facts. I think that it is Kerry who sees no other solution to this imagine “quagmire” than for him to reinstate the draft. Sometimes seeing through your opponent’s projections is the best way to discern their plan, and these days discerning John Kerry’s plan has become the national hobby.

And I speculate, with little proof other than reverse-psych and a little bit of reading into the context of things, because nowadays there is so little value placed on the facts. Fake but accurate despite the facts? Pshaw! I have now speculated on how John Kerry wants a draft despite his constant denial and projection that it is the President who wants a draft. But who cares? Because we have sunk into the season when fish swim through water that flows uphill, and where up is down and left is right and where everything means nothing. Despite the facts.

Just a thought, folks, as the insanity piles on over the next two weeks. Despite the facts.