This , from comments by a German reader on Daily KOS:

Daily Kos :: Four more years… of what?

a newly confident President Bush, who described his future method of handling allies with this memorable formula: ,,I will reach out to others and explain why I make the decisions I make.”

He might as well say,
“I’ll reach out across the aisle, and grab ’em by the nuts, and say , this is what it is”. Actually, I’d Like to hear you EXPLAIN the decisions you made. We all know your real reasons won’t play, even amongst the most hardened conservatives.

I wrote several days ago, and I’ll say it again: Thomas Frank asks “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” in his book by that title. Amazon editorial: “According to Frank, the conservative establishment has tricked Kansans, playing up the emotional touchstones of conservatism and perpetuating a sense of a vast liberal empire out to crush traditional values while barely ever discussing the Republicans’ actual economic policies and what they mean to the working class. Thus the pro-life Kansas factory worker who listens to Rush Limbaugh will repeatedly vote for the party that is less likely to protect his safety, less likely to protect his job, and less likely to benefit him economically.”

And I ask: What’s the Matter with US? (Double meaning: US as in we, and US as in U.S.) It’s a malady affecting the whole lot of us. It’s utterly amazing how little attention is payed to the actual experts (other than the “payed ‘experts'” like the two sides of a court case will find expert testimony to support their case), how little attention is payed to the actual policies, or how easy it is to HIDE matters of policy that affect all of us. The media , in my opinion, and many others, is the sellout here, and for me, the Church as well. If the media would simply point us to the supporting or conflicting evidence, or if the Church would simply preach the gospel and seek God, they would have eyes to see, and ears to hear.