The Crazy People's Party
Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) is caught on tape in Ithaca being insane at his community forum on Social Security.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY): Well, you know, they are manipulating the media, they did it in the very beginning through intimidation....People have been - people in the media have been intimidated. The media has changed in the last four years. People have changed in the last four years. They've had a very very direct, aggressive attack on the, on the media, and the way it's handled. Probably the most flagrant example of that is the way they set up Dan Rather. Now, I mean, I have my own beliefs about how that happened: it originated with Karl Rove, in my belief, in the White House. They set that up with those false papers....And they - and they distributed those out to elements of the media. And it was only - what, like was it CBS? Or whatever, whatever which one Rather works for. They - the people there - they finally bought into it, and they, and they aired it. And when they did, they had 'em. They didn't care who did it! All they had to do is to get some element of the media to advance that issue. Based upon the false papers that they produced.

Uh, well, we know who distributed those "elements" to the media, and it was the same guy who probably forged them: The alarmingly obsessive Texas Bush-hater Bill Burkett, who appears to somehow blame then-Governor Bush personally for the Texas National Guard rejecting his health claims years ago. Burkett claimed the Kerry campaign was out to get his documents, but then, I guess, refused to use them, so he ran down to an Abilene Kinko's and faxed them to CBS all by himself.

Burkett not only admitted to being the source, but planned to sue CBS for revealing his identity. When USA Today came to his home to interview him, he began inventing surreal stories about mysterious women and secret storage places, then went into violent seizures. CBS "finally" bought into it? They were so eager to use them that they simply lied about what their own experts said about the documents in order to justify sticking them on the air. In other words, these morons didn't need anybody "setting them up": They were doing just fine, thanks.

Anyway, if you listen to the audio, you can tell he's likely making this up as he goes along, but Hinchey's UFO-abduction theory brings up some quite reasonable questions from an audience member:

Audience Member: Do you have any evidence for that?

Congressman Hinchey: Yes I do. Once they did that, once they did that, then it undermined everything else about Bush's draft dodging. Once they were able to say, 'This is false! These papers are not accurate, they're, they're, they're false, they've been falsified.' That had the effect of taking the whole issue away.

Audience Member: So you have evidence that the papers came from the Bush administration?

Hey, what's with the third degree, man? He told you what happened! What's with this "needing proof" stuff?

Congressman Hinchey: No. I - that's my belief....And I said that. In the very beginning. I said, 'It's my belief that those papers, and that setup, originated with Karl Rove and the White House.'

Then there was the part after the very beginning where he said he did have evidence, so it's really kind of a wash.

Audience Member: Don't you think it's irresponsible to make charges like that?

Congressman Hinchey: No I don't. I think it's very important to make charges like that. I think it's very important to combat this kind of activity in every way that you can. And I'm willing - and most people are not - to step forward in situations like this and take risks.

Audience: [Clapping and cheering.]

Congressman Hinchey: I consider that to be part of my job, and I'm gonna continue to do it.

"Yaay! Yaay for fighting truth with lies! *clap*clap*clap*"

Virtually everyone in that auditorium needs a helmet.

Once again we are presented with undeniable evidence of the existence of the Liberalverse, the alternate universe where the Democratic Party's statements are actually consistent with reality, a universe which only they can perceive, allowing them to make the "Straw Universe Argument" without flinching.

Update: Why is the media so accomodating to these people?