Biden’s statement and the discussion of Cindy Sheehan highlight something that has been gnawing at me.

This is the willfull inability of today’s far right to identify the opposition. To them, Obama and, by extension, Biden are insane radicals, Marxists, and Bolsheviks. They seem to be unaware that the actual left exists. If Obama is a red who wants to abolish capitalism, who was Howard Zinn? If the Democrats are Kumbaya singing peaceniks who want to abolish the military, who is Cindy Sheehan? Code Pink? If the Dems are traitors, who are John Walker Lindh and the detestable Adam Gadahn?

Do they not understand just how far these actual radicals are from the current administration? I submit that the leaders, the talk-show lords and the pandering politicians, do understand but they regard inflammatory (and frankly, crazy) smears as a better strategy than addressing reality. Some evidence suggests they may be right. This is a discouraging and frightful possibility but I can’t make it go away just by ignoring it.