_{Reposting this from 2006.}

The world of politics is never pretty and often very ugly.

One of the most ugly features is how the politicians switch facts around to protect their argument.  They determine a conclusion that fits their needs, and then find the facts that support their conclusion, almost an intellectual reverse engineering.

It's not all that hard, we teach it in every school that has a debate team.  You are assigned a topic, and have to develop an argument to support it.  The validity or accuracy of the facts you present is unimportant unless they are challenged by your opponent.  Preparation becomes the driving factor: are you able to anticipate the challenges and overcome them?  The bottom line is that in the end, the facts don't matter.  Just the Feel.  Can you offer convincing sincerity?  Confidence?  Can you sway them with an emotional plea?  All powerful weapons.

Now consider that in relation to politics.  Politicians often present information based on how they want us to Feel, without regard to the facts.  The sell us on the emotional appeal.

The Bush administration was soundly thrashed by liberals for what they allege is fear mongering tactics, whether it is Social Security (the SS system will collapse), Al Qaeda (terrorism and 9/11), Iran and North Korea (nukes in the hand of dangerous countries) or countless other examples seen hourly at the Daily Kos.  The Bush Administration provided examples of things that were dangerous, to provide the Feel of security with them at the helm

The Democrats for all their piety are also masters of this game, only their goals are different.  They try to scare us about Abortion (women dying in back alley abortions), taxes (your children will bear the burden tomorrow of the tax cuts today), the war in Iraq (endless examples of a war we cannot win, replete with dying soldiers and civilians) and locally it even jumped into the arena of gas taxes, when politicians and local bloggers told their readers about the death traps on the road, despite the fact their plans didn't even fix the problems they cited.  To them, the Feel they seek is betrayal of the Republicans and distrust.

The problem with these two primary examples is the Bush administration has more facts to support their spin; their Feel.  Iran and North Korea do present dangerous places to have Nukes, Al Qaeda really does hate America and Social Security really will collapse without some manner of reform.

The Media used to pride itself on providing a check on the twisting of truth, but in recent years they are complicate in the twist.  They publish stories without verification, like the Koran abuse story last year. 

The penalty for their lie was minimal, on a personal level, they just had to run a retraction.  OOPS.  Sorry.  Pity the 100+ people killed in the riots that their irresponsible publishing set off can take no comfort that Newsweek retracted the story and really feels bad about it.

Dan Rather ran the story on the Bush National Guard memos without actually verifying their authenticity, and they got heavily stung when the memos were proved fake.  They made a half hearted rationalization, saying that the physical memos may be faked, but they reflect the actual events.  Convenient that there is no evidence to dispute that.  Even the most hardy liberal blanched a bit on the silliness of that.  The Feel that Bush was a cowardly deserter made the facts irrelevant.

The anti war people are another shining example.  Cindy Sheehan can cry about how Bush is a murderer, but it is patently untrue.  When dealing with her son's death, rather then face the facts, she finds the Feel.  Her son did not, could not have reenlisted for dedication to the Army and the Country, because he must have shared her anti war views.  If he didn't share her anti war values, then she has failed as a mother.  So she knows he must have been deceived.  She Feels  outrage and righteous anger, not just on her views, but on his behalf, regardless of what his actual feelings about the war might have been.  The Fact is that we will never know for sure, but the circumstances indicate he was willingly doing what he chose to do.  But that doesn't Feel good.

LT Wateba at Fort Lewis is also engage in a personal deception.  He does not want to go to war, so he has allowed himself to be convinced, all legal evidence to the contrary, that the war is unjust and unlawful, therefore not only can he Feel justified in violating his oath, he can actually preen about his duty demands he not go, and not only that he is helping the soldiers he abandons by not going.  He is a hero, fighting to end the war, a noble martyr to the holy cause.  Surely a righteous Feeling, eh?

The Liberal love to point to crime, how prison is bad, and much more effective it is to understand the criminal, to Feel his pain, his anger and his sickness.  And so guilty people go free to commit new crimes.  But rather then concede their policies Feel good, but suck at results, they simple blame a new factor.  Racism.  Economic disadvantage. Etc. Anything to avoiding making the criminal Feel responsible, or to Feel punished.

Somewhere behind this mess is a lost concept:  The truth.  Sadly it is so often completely twisted into a convenient package that it is almost useless.

The fact is that truth matters, and people should demand it.  They are smarter then these deceivers are, with their hubris stiffening their spines as they embark on deception after deception.

A few great examples:

• 
  
  Only Republicans are corrupt, despite people like William Jefferson.
  
  
  


• 
  
  Only Republicans commit voter fraud, despite no evidence to validate it.
  
  
  


• 
  
  Bush lied, despite a complete lack of lies.
  
  
  


• 
  
  The insurgents are not terrorists, they are freedom fighter.
  
  
  


• 
  
  Anything made by Michael Moore (nuff said)
  
  
  

I can go on for days but you get the point.  We are living in a land of glamours, of illusions and pretenses.  Rationalizations, sophistry and mitigation.  The politicians weave a spell of deceptions, armed with pseudo facts like polls, surveys and focus groups.

The media seeks ratings and scoops, not facts and news.  Not to expose the truth for its own sake, but for ratings dominance.

Everyone says they care about the truth, and they do:  The truth they manufacture.  They create the truth as they go by cherry picking the facts, wrapping it in a pretty bow and shoving it in our faces.

I hate to break it to them, but the facts really do matter and the ends do not always justify the means.  And the people they are trying to hypnotize really can see past it.

Sure, there are those who are on the same page, the willing victims of deception.  They want Bush to be a liar so they accept the stories about how he lied.  They enable the deceivers.

But there are a lot of people who really do care about honesty, and they look past the games and constructs and find the real Truth.  

The politicians might want to remember this, and make an attempt to be honest before their actions land them on the unemployment line.   The media will find their subscriptions and ratings suffering.

They may not like how that Feels.