Tea Partiers don’t know what’s going on

I get that people are mad that the economy sucks and that one manifestation of that is a weird movement of hardcore right-wing anti-establishmentarianism.  I get that people have different political views and have the right to express those views.  What I don’t get, however, is when people base their beliefs and actions on verifiable falsehoods.

It’s okay to not like Obama because you don’t like his foreign policy or his stance on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell or the stimulus.  I obviously disagree with those who dislike those actions, but I can respect someone nonetheless who holds them.  What’s unfathomable, however, is when people are against Obama for raising taxes, something which has not happened (and which someone who reads fact-based news would know).  This CBS poll finds that 24% of all Americans believe Obama has raised taxes whereas 44% of Tea Partiers believe he has.  To be fair, 53% of Americans and 46% of Tea Partiers know that Obama has kept taxes the same.  (I’m ignoring the tax credits in the stimulus bill since those are temporary measures.)  Nonetheless, it’s incredible that one-quarter of all Americans are basing their political beliefs on falsehoods.  You can’t have reasonable debates with people whose ideas are coming from a make believe place.