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You Can't Argue With A Conservative... No, Really, It's A Fact

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:35:00 GMT

We're traveled all across the country for political reasons over the years. Sometimes to cover a story for a newspaper, other times to campaign for our preferred candidate. And not to get all "there are only two kinds of people in this world, son" on you, but... there are two kinds of political people in this country: the liberal, who thinks just because he's right and has the facts on his side, he can change the oppositions mind, and the conservative, who thinks if he just sticks to his talking points and ignores what the other person is actually saying, he will eventually get the other person to give up.

They're both wrong, although a new study shows that presenting facts and truth to conservatives makes them more likely to reaffirm their original position...

From the Washington Post:

One group was given a refutation -- the comprehensive 2004 Duelfer report that concluded that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction before the United States invaded in 2003. Thirty-four percent of conservatives told only about the Bush administration's claims thought Iraq had hidden or destroyed its weapons before the U.S. invasion, but 64 percent of conservatives who heard both claim and refutation thought that Iraq really did have the weapons. The refutation, in other words, made the misinformation worse.

[The study suggests] that Republicans might be especially prone to the backfire effect because conservatives may have more rigid views than liberals: Upon hearing a refutation, conservatives might "argue back" against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening their belief in the misinformation. [They] did not see the same "backfire effect" when liberals were given misinformation and a refutation about the Bush administration's stance on stem cell research.

Well, either that or liberals are just whimps who cower before conservative's loud awesomeness!

Via HuffPo.

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Top 10 Things Younger Than John McCain

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:17:00 GMT

A reader sent us this delightfully ageist, partisan hatchet job on the candidate attempting to become the oldest President ever (no, not Hillary Clinton, c. 2013), Senator John McCain.

John McCain is older than the word "old." When John McCain was a child, his granpappy was referred to as "ye olde man." Note the difference in spelling. John McCain is older than nylons, which means he is older than boners. Do we sound too much like "The Late Show With David Letterman?" We apologize-- although you should still check out our hilarious little list, stolen straight from the website "Things Younger Than John McCain."

10. Velcro

9. Plutonium

8. Both of Barack Obama's biological parents

7. Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney, for God's sake. Support somebody else!

6. Cheerios. Cheerios... Jesus Almighty, we thought the caveman had been the one to figure out what to do with little oats.

5. Scientology. Take that, John Travolta, Tom Cruise, and that embarrassing woman from "Cheers"-- Scientology is a figment of our cultural imagination and not to be taken any more seriously than, uh, Christianity, for example.

4. Spam. Not only the internet annoyance... the food made famous by Monty Python!

3. The Golden Gate Bridge

2. Alaska

1. The Chocolate Chip Cookie

Runners up: AARP, Mount Rushmore, McDonald's, nylon, and FM radio, as well as many other shockers at "Things Younger Than McCain."

Thanks to Rachel R. for the link!

Hillary Clinton: "I Feel... Happy!"

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:28:00 GMT

Hillary Clinton has a plan to win the nomination, and it's a surprising one...

Howard Dean: Bring out yer dead.
[a man puts a body on the cart]
The Media: Here's one.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
Howard Dean: What?
The Media: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
Howard Dean: 'Ere, she says she's not dead.
The Media: Yes, she is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
Howard Dean: She isn't.
The Media: Well, she will be soon, she's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.
The Media: No, you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
Howard Dean: Well, I can't take her like that. It's against regulations.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I don't want to go on the cart.
The Media: Oh, don't be such a baby.
Howard Dean: I can't take her like that.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel fine...
The Media: Well, when's your next round?
Howard Dean: Tomorrow, after West Virginia.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I've been saying all along... West Virginia is very important! The most important of all the states!
The Media: You're not fooling anyone, you know.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel happy! I feel happy!

[Howard Dean glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with a whack of his club]

According to Terry McAuliffe, Hillary will use the West Virginia primary on Tuesday to attempt, as part of a long-term strategy, to eventually pass Obama in the popular vote count.

In an e-mail to supporters, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee says:

Hillary is within striking distance of winning the popular vote nationwide -- a key part of our plan to win the nomination. That means we need every last vote we can get in West Virginia on Tuesday and in the races to follow.

Will it work? Although most people on both sides agree the race is over (after all, Hillary is losing superdelegates to Obama as fast or faster than she can add new ones), we would not be surprised if the media trumpets her likely 25-point-plus victory tomorrow as another "game changer" and that, as Monty Python would say, she's "not dead yet!"

Via IMDB.