It seems incredible, impossible. How is it Mitt Romney can tell lie upon lie, hold multiple positions on every issue, and still be treated as a credible candidate? How can the Republicans and all the shadow groups they front for run ads so full of falsehoods and viciousness with impunity? How can FOX, Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity and the rest of the right wing media machine peddle obvious snake oil and have their audience still lap it up? How can the Republican establishment, their political leaders down to their rank and file, engage in mendacity on such a massive scale over and over again, seemingly without consequence?

     Part of it is the sheer audacity of their crimes. People simply can't believe what they do is possible - the classic Big Lie in action. Part of it is the failure of the Fourth Estate - a media that for assorted reasons gives them a free pass. Part of it is public disgust with a political process they don't believe serves them, one where they see no difference between parties. Part of it is the cumulative impact of decades of a determined effort to shape the political narrative to the point that even Democrats use GOP framing and run away from their own principles.