Facts? Lies? … No Problem With Wingnut Voters

by John DeProspo

I occasionally will watch Fox News. You know, to see how the Republican propaganda machine will spin the day’s news (OK, I like to gaze upon Fox’s foxy Megyn Kelly!).
Last night Megyn had a group of about 25-30 Republican voters she quizzed on their take of the third Republican pretender 'debate'. The most interesting segment of her show came towards the end when she discussed a few of the “untruths” spouted by some of the candidates.
Rubio was asked about his poor handling of his personal finances:
MODERATOR: Rubio, you yourself have said that you’ve had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That’s something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say?
RUBIO: Well, you just – you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I’m not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all.
Megyn told her panel, after some fact checking, it was determined that everything the moderator said about Rubio’s poor financial acumen was true.
So not only is Rubio a poor manager of his personal finances … he’s a bald-faced liar!
Megyn then asked her Republican panel members if any of this mattered to them. I believe two people raised their hands.
News outlets have a field day fact checking statements made by politicians after debates. It is very clear that facts, or lies, do not matter so much to your average Republican voter. How else could one explain the level of support for Trump and Carson (or the entire Republican field for that matter!).