Derangement

They're still pitching the "derangement syndrome" defense and I have to ask myself whether in the vast, seething sea of stupid, there remains anyone deranged enough to buy it. I'm afraid of the answer.

John Fund launched into Bill Maher on Friday night, claiming that questions as to the superiority of Sarah Palin's intelligence and the comprehensiveness of her knowledge were part of a "Palin derangement syndrome." It's a gambit that should cause a two year old to kick the slats out of his playpen in laughter, but I still receive comments here and elsewhere indicating that my frustration at the corruption, incompetence and criminal intent of the Republican administration is explained by my derangement and not by the things and deeds to which I object. If you don't like crime, you must be deranged and in proportion to the degree to which it angers you. Tell it to the judge.

Indeed the mendacious Michelle Malkin began to peddle the idea a week ago: that the immediate reaction to an unknown candidate with the most questionable qualifications of any in my memory, indicates not the need to know the facts so essential to the democratic process, but derangement. Of course the degree of scrutiny one encounters when applying for a job at Dairy Queen far exceeds anything Mrs. Palin has yet seen, but it's derangement or just plain nastiness as Fund implies, to enquire into the background and qualifications of a received candidate. That's just deranged and we are simply to accept whom and what we are offered by the GOP God.

The crude speciosity is offensive enough without remembering the kind of campaigns that laugh at the man who had his arm and legs blown off for being a malingerer, a decorated veteran for being a coward, a man who tried to bring back POWS a collaborator and worse, but face it, the Republicans, for all their posing as rational and responsible, are making no attempt to be factual and have run completely wild in their irresponsible accusations. They're not even attempting to argue like conservatives. It's been a long time since they represented small government, restrained spending, balanced budgets or even conservation.

This election is about pushing failed and doomed dogmas, both religious and secular. It's about Evangelical Fundamentalism, about economic fundamentalism and it's about imperialism. It's about using the snobbery and bigotry of the ignorant to promote an oligarchy of the powerful. Regardless of the childish games and silly names, that's all it's about, and treating them as rational people of sound mind and good intentions is the most deranged thing we can possibly do. Reasoned debate only works for reasonable and intelligent people. It's no defense against bibles, bigotry and bullshit. It's time to get angry -- very angry at people who try to impugn your patriotism and shout you down like Brown shirts in some Munich beer hall. This may be our last chance.