An Interesting Point

Daniel Webster during a different time in American politics.

Tom Levenson over at Balloon Juice says that Palin and her ilk are not trying to have a debate, they are trying to gain power.

I think that's the key to understanding some of the modern GOP.  Both Democrats and the media are assuming we are having a debate about policy and governance.  Debates are orderly and are based on marshaling evidence and using it cogently to win your point.

Sarah Palin has no use for facts or argument.  People who talk about end of life planning as death panels have no use of the rules of parliamentary debate.

There is an end: power, the means are irrelevant.  So in the end, if you wind up using violent language and violent imagery and that unleashes the violence already present in a young mentally ill loner, well, hell, it's not my fault.

And since evidence made no difference with Obama's birth certificate, death panels and tax rates, why should it make any difference now?