NYT: To live and seethe in that world of conspiracy theories means rejecting any form of objective

[pampango]

reality. When unemployment numbers make the administration look good, they are obviously “cooked.” When poll numbers put Mr. Obama ahead, they are skewed. Birth certificates are forgeries. Safety-net programs are giveaways to supporters. Health insurance reform is socialism. And campaign donation disclosure is antibusiness.

It’s an upside-down version of life, and it is not innocuous. When desperation leads political critics of the president to discredit important nonpolitical institutions — including the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Reserve and the Congressional Budget Office — the damage can be long-lasting. If voters come to mistrust the most basic functions of government, the resulting cynicism can destroy the basic compact of citizenship.

When Republicans began questioning President Obama’s birth certificate four years ago, it seemed at first like a petulant reaction to a lost election, a flush of nativist and racist anger that would diminish over time. But the preposterous charges never went away. As this election cycle shows, many in the Republican Party continue to see the president as the center of a broad and malevolent liberal conspiracy to upend the truth.

Democrats aren’t happy about the latest polls, but they aren’t suggesting Mr. Romney is manipulating them, just as they didn’t undermine the Bureau of Labor Statistics when the jobless numbers were high. Many are far more worried about a conspiracy that is verifiable and serious: the concerted effort by Republicans over the last four years to deprive minorities, poor people and other likely Democratic supporters of their voting rights.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/opinion/conspiracy-world.html?hp

To summarize: Facts have a liberal bias. And republicans don't need no stinking fact-checkers running their campaigns.
In their world, conspiracy theories based on suspicions alone are all they need.

[Javaman]

1. It impossible to argue with any conspiracy theory nut...

they have an answer for everything and anytime you contradict them or point them to facts destroying their argument, they pull out the old tired canard of "Of course those numbers were cooked by someone working for the government!"

It's like arguing with 3 year olds.

[el_bryanto]

2. The most frustrating thing is that Counter evidence becomes evidence

"Ah - that just shows how far they will go to cover up this conspiracy."

Then again it also bugs me how disagreeing with them is proof that you are a naive simpleton or secretly in the pocket of their enemies.

Bryant

[gollygee]

3. Also, the conspiracy theories build on themselves

Someone I know believes this Obama:2016 movie about how Obama is supposedly wanting to destroy America and send all our wealth to other countries. Why he didn't try it the first four years but needed a second term to try to do this, I'm not sure.

But then this person was talking about how Obama supposedly wants to allow the UN to tax Americans and then give the money to other countries. And how this makes sense giving everything that is in Obama: 2016.

Conspiracy theory #1 is the reason why conspiracy theory #2 makes sense.

Stupid people are stupid.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. I'm amazed that was published in the NY Times.

[pampango]

6. Of course, birthers/teabaggers are not. To them the NYT is the epitome of the dreaded LIBERAL MEDIA.

This editorial just reinforces their belief about the LIBERAL MEDIA always disparaging conservatives, as crazy as that seems to us.

[Romulox]

5. Entirely separate from this dust up, the unemployment numbers ARE obviously cooked.

The idea that "discouraged" workers can be excluded, as well as underunemployed persons, from any TRUE count of unemployment has been logically dubious from the first.

This has been discussed in depth here at DU for years.