From New York, the elephant in the green room: The circus Roger Ailes created at Fox News made his network $900 million last year, but it may have lost him something more important — the next election; and if I take down Fox, is all forgiven? David Brock has spent the last decade apologizing to liberals for his role in creating the vast right-wing conspiracy — now he’s trying something more ambitious and hoping it gains him the respect he craves from the White House. Rick Pearlstein goes inside the GOP's fact-free nation: From Nixon's plumbers to James O'Keefe's video smears — how political lying became normal. Thought Police: Paul Waldman on how group think will shape the Republican presidential primaries. James Wolcott on Republicans looking for love in all the right places. A review of Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin by Frank Bailey. From Slate, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin running for president? Comparing the two Mama Grizzlies; Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign is over before it ever really began; and the Republican Party may not be ready to take on the welfare state, but the Tea Party is. A look at the dangerous levels of overlap between the xenophobic "Minuteman" movement and the Tea Party (and more). The problem of Republican idiots: The liars and lunatics serve as a smoke screen for the conservative war on the poor and the middle class. Michelle Goldberg on Jerome Corsi's Where's the Birth Certificate? and why Birthers won't die. Conspiracy theories abound in American politics: The US has a tradition of being suspicious, and the Internet is feeding that skepticism. From Rolling Stone, paranoid nation: A series of articles on how conspiracy theories are destroying America. Chris Lehmann on scofflaws, elected or otherwise: America has entered a surreal post-accountability age.
