Yes, Facts Do Matter

If, that is, you can find a way to get them into the arena. These days that’s not quite so simple. Take Dr. Thomas Sowell for instance. Here’s a man who has earned a reputation as one of the preeminent economists in the world. Through his writing anyone can plainly see this is a thoughtful, honest and logical man who not only knows what he’s talking about, but knows how to talk about it.

In his column yesterday: “Do Facts Matter,”  Dr. Sowell said this:

Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”

Unfortunately, the future of this country, as well as the fate of the Western world, depends on how many people can be fooled on election day, just a few weeks from now.

Right now, the polls indicate that a whole lot of the people are being fooled a whole lot of the time.

A truth I finally came to grips with in 1992 when Bill Clinton won the presidency is that while Lincoln might have been right in that quote, he didn’t go far enough. The question I had in 1992 was this: “Can you fool enough of the people enough of the time?” With the results of that election I could only conclude that yes, you can. As Dr. Sowell points out, right now it seems that is exactly what is happening.

Some proof of this is in the comments left by readers of Dr. Sowell’s column. In the column Dr. Sowell lays out some facts:

Fact Number One: It was liberal Democrats, led by Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who for years– including the present year– denied that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taking big risks that could lead to a financial crisis.

It was Senator Dodd, Congressman Frank and other liberal Democrats who for years refused requests from the Bush administration to set up an agency to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was liberal Democrats, again led by Dodd and Frank, who for years pushed for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans, which are at the heart of today’s financial crisis.

Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush’s Secretary of the Treasury, five years ago.

The above facts are all true. They are all in the public record and can be easily checked by anyone willing to do so. Take the situation regarding ties between Obama and Franklin Raines. Again, all part of the public record:

The Washington Post criticized the McCain campaign for calling Raines an adviser to Obama, even though that fact was reported in the Washington Post itself on July 16th. The technicality and the spin here is that Raines is not officially listed as an adviser. But someone who advises is an adviser, whether or not his name appears on a letterhead.

The tie between Barack Obama and Franklin Raines is not all one-way. Obama has been the second-largest recipient of Fannie Mae’s financial contributions, right after Senator Christopher Dodd.

But ties between Obama and Raines? Not if you read the mainstream media.

Facts don’t matter much politically if they are not reported.

The media alone are not alone in keeping the facts from the public. Republicans, for reasons unknown, don’t seem to know what it is to counter-attack. They deserve to lose.

I agree with Dr. Sowell on all of this, especially that last sentence. I also agree with his closing statement in the column:

But the country does not deserve to be put in the hands of a glib and cocky know-it-all, who has accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the advancement of his own career with rhetoric, and who has for years allied himself with a succession of people who have openly expressed their hatred of America.

I can only hope the McCain campaign has a full understanding of this and does what is necessary. Word is they’re getting on with it, but until it actually happens that doesn’t comfort me. Given the left leaning tendencies of the MSM there are a lot of fooled people out there. Some of them smart enough to know better, but apparently to lazy to think for themselves on the subject.

As proof of this I offer the comments section on Dr. Sowell’s column on Town Hall. Some of the comments there are so illogical as to be nonsensical in the true sense of the word. It really is amazing, and frightening, to think that once again we could elect a president based on such nonsense. This time it’s a lot worse though. This time, the nominee in questions is a radical socialist with nowhere near enough experience for the job.

More on this at Lucianne.com.