Tea Party candidates - when it comes to facts ignorance rules

In the distorted worldview of Tea Party leaders and their followers, facts are fungible. Facts are whatever narrative suits them in the moment. Encased in their information cocoon they can hold signs saying "Government hands off my Medicare" without a trace of irony.

As the mid term elections draw closer it only seems to get worse. In the past couple of days, three Tea Party Senatorial candidates have made up 'facts' that bear no relation to the real world. Needless to say, they are rarely challenged on any of it.

Start with Sharron Angle in her debate with Harry Reid a couple of nights ago. At one point she claimed 11 foreign states have joined the government in their lawsuit against Arizona's immigration laws. The reality is that foreign states have no standing to bringing or even being part of a lawsuit in the U.S. What they can do is file a brief in a lawsuit which some foreign countries have done although that isn't what Angle claimed. Her claim is that the U.S. together with 11 foreign nations filed the lawsuit. The right wing blogs are all agog with this, showing that a lie that suits their narrative soon becomes the truth.

Next is Rand Paul who seems to make a habit of denying he said something even when the video evidence proves otherwise. He said that the Dept. of Education should be abolished so that schoolkids don't have to learn that having two mommies is okay. The school curriculum is set on the local level, the Dept. of Eduction has no control or say over it. Rand has made a habit of saying something and then denying he ever said it. The original statement becomes the truth.

Lastly Pat Toomey, a Rick Santorum clone who looks like he could win the Seante seat in Pennsylvania had this to say.

TOOMEY: But they’re doing some serious damage. If you think of what we’ve witnessed in just the last 18 months or so, serial bailouts of failing companies, nationalizing whole industries, spending money on a scale we’ve never seen before, deficits and debts that are completely unsustainable, you add in cap and trade, card check, government-run health care, is it any wonder we haven’t had an economic recovery? Is it any wonder we don’t have job growth? How hard is this to figure out?

Let's set aside the crap about 'nationalizing whole industries' and look at cap and trade, card check and health care as being part of the cause of the current economy. Other than Health Care Reform which has passed but has not gone into effect yet, neither cap and trade nor card check bills have been passed. Cap and trade was passed by the house but died in the Senate and card check which would allow a trade union to be formed if 50% of workers at a particular factory or company agree hasn't even been voted on and probably never will, in the current climate.

Toomey might pause to reflect that the current economic mess was caused by banking deregulation, supported by his entire party who then turned a blind eye to the rampant fraud throughout the process and as we have seen lately, is still going on,