Brian Beutler's article in Salon discusses the gullibility of right-wingers to all manner of horror stories involving Big Gummint. We noted below that the "Americans for (Plutocrat) Prosperity" ads on the Affordable Care Act are sheer fabricatons, but believed by a gullible conservative audience wanting their notions to be validated. Same with the tall tale that Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan told at the CPAC nut fest about the kid who wanted his own lunch in a brown paper bag, not the lunch offered by the school lunch program. They've been conditioned for a very long time to simply accept the worst, most inane explanations for things -- no matter how untrue -- because they confirm their prejudices / philosophy / values.
We remember St. Ronnie of Hollywood's habit of imagining things that didn't happen (or they happened on a movie set which he confused with reality): the "welfare queen," the young black men buying steaks with welfare checks, etc. As former Vice President Walter Mondale once said about St. Ronnie (borrowing from Will Rogers), "it's not what he doesn't know that bothers me, it's what he knows for sure that just ain't so." After 30 years, it's worse than ever.
