THIS IS HOW THEY THINK

I listen to right-wing talk radio so you won't have to. Today's feature is Dallas KLIF host Greg Knapp, who right this minute is working on a segment about Bush's low approval numbers. The media is "gleeful," he says, because their five years of incessantly beating Americans over the head with the memes, "Bush is wrong, Bush lied and people died, Bush is a moron" finally seem to be paying off. But that's not really why Bush's popularity has taken a nose dive.

Knapp claims to know why Bush's numbers are low: it's because he's lost his base! Dubya has angered conservatives by his excessive spending, government intrusion into our privates lives where it's inappropriate and no government meddling where it SHOULD be done, failure to secure our borders, wrong-headed proposals regarding illegal immigration, the disastrous Dubai Ports World deal. And as a good conservative Greg has totally, he says, been on the right side of all those issues, while Bush was wrong. BUT... there's a big difference between THIS president and every Democratic politician you ever heard of. BUSH WILL NOT BE DETERRED BY POLLS FROM DOING WHAT'S RIGHT.

He turned to the subject of today's huge U.S. air raid in Iraq. [Is this our appointment in Samarra? -- sorry, bad joke.]. The media, he ranted on, are so cynical they actually think a dip in the polls -- terror alert! Bush gets record low numbers -- air raid! They think every politician is like Bill Clinton, who would order a military attack to get a boost in the polls.

But NOT GEORGE BUSH! Nosirreee!! He proved that polls play no part in his decision making when he decided to declare war on Iraq. That was politically risky! If it didn't turn out right, he'd pay for it in the polls! But he did it anyway, because it was the RIGHT THING TO DO.

Now here's how Knapp envisions Bush making a comeback: Bush has to reverse gears on all the issues dear to conservatives related above, and he has to get out the real truth about all the good stuff that is happening in Iraq. Today's air raid is an example of that good stuff. Something like 800 Iraqis are participating and they're standing up so we can eventually stand down. But listen. You should know that there are some people who hate Bush so much they're determinedly asserting that there was no connection between Saddam and terrorism. And we know that's a lie. But if it was true it would ruin our core justification for invading Iraq. But we know it's a lie of those nefarious Democrats who hate America, and the truth is not in them.

I've channeled Greg enough for now, I think. I'm too tired to address his strange syllogism (the one I bolded). Just read and see if you have the same head-spinning reaction I did.

Tags: Bush, Greg Knapp, polls, talk radio