THE DOMINANT WORLDVIEW OF THE GOP-BASE VOTER, IN 144 PARANOID WORDS

Just found this blog post via Free Republic and, wow, it's a masterpiece of concise conspiratorialism -- everything is in here, I think, in a mere 144 words:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just announced that the Obama Administration would be working hand in glove with the UN to pass a new Small Arms Treaty designed to register, ban and confiscate firearms owned by private citizens. This is nothing more than a massive, global gun control scheme. Next step is to weaken the military, shrink down the police force, and allow groups such as ACORN, Black Panthers and union thugs with baseball bats, led by Andy Stern, control the outcomes of elections, food distributions and managing chaos. When there are more people on welfare rolls than taxpayers, and those who keep getting extended unemployment checks without having to work than those who work two to three jobs to survive, the conditions will be ripe for a total takeover. And that’s how they intend to do it. Just ask Van Jones.

I want a reputable pollster to just read this aloud, verbatim, to interviewees and ask whether they think it's completely true, mostly true, partly true, mostly untrue, or completely untrue. Fifty bucks says a majority of Republicans -- I'd guess 60% minimum -- would pick "completely true" or "mostly true."

When the top-rated cable-news outlet in America effectively endorses a "documentary" film positing that dirty hippies from the '60s deliberately caused the financial meltdown, and the film is also endorsed by the woman who may be the next Republican presidential nominee, this kind of rant is no longer fringe -- it's mainstream GOP. And I wish some non-lefty Beltway pundits would acknowledge how frightening that is.