UTTERLY LACKING IN BASIC COMPREHENSION OF THE SIMPLEST FACTS

Here's the beginning of a sentence in David Broder's latest Washington Post column:

So McCain, recognizing that neither Giuliani nor Romney is likely to challenge him from the right...

What? What the hell is he talking about? Giuliani just said if you vote Democrat in '08, you'll die in a terrorist attack. That's not coming from further to the right than McCain?

Up in the ether where Broder dwells, the way you prove your right-wing bona fides is to show off wounds from fighting a real war while issuing a tough-love mix of criticism and praise for the current administration's foreign policy. (The bulk of Broder's column is praise for McCain's "straight talk," by which he means precisely that mix.)

Down here in the real world, the way you prove you're a genuine right-winger is by accusing Democrats and liberals of treason, while never, ever, ever showing even the slightest disrespect to our godlike War President or the holy angels and saints who sit at his right hand.

McCain's way isn't working. The people furthest to the right hate him. Maybe if the Dean spent a little more time among the common people, or even just reading what they tell pollsters and say on the Internet, he'd know that.