The "New" New Republic

OK, just the web site is "new." And is reminiscient of the "new" L. A Times website. Hmmm. Anyway, Chotiner checks the logic in this wk.'s ghost-written for the WSJ Palin editorial.

It is always worth knowing how certain people think. According to Palin, what matters here is not whether the federal government will implement death panels. No, what matters is that the phrase "rang true" for people. Thus if you are, say, the governor or former governor of Alaska, and a public figure that people pay attention to, you are well within your rights to spread falsehoods as long as the opinion polls support your lies. Okay, let's take Palin's logic and put it to some real use. Suppose I wanted to prove that Palin was not very smart. For evidence I could cite her sub-literate sentences and inability to answer basic questions. But this would be to betray Palin's own logic. So instead I would simply talk to a bunch of my liberal friends who think she is not very smart, and use their opinions as my evidence. What a neat trick.

Very nice. And Palin is hardly the only rightist who takes this attitude. If people believe you, it's not a lie!