#IfIranCheats - Obama won't be around to clean up the mess. Well, actually, nobody will be around the clean up the mess.
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) April 2, 2015Right, because if Iran gets one nuclear weapon, that weapon will be so powerful it will be able to wipe out the entire planet, because it will be a special Evil Islamic Super Nuke raining hellfire on everyone on earth by means of a planet-encircling delivery system (sort of the way Santa delivers toys on Christmas Eve, except Muslim). America's 7300 nuclear warheads (and France's 300, and the U.K.'s 225, and Israel's 80) will be useless as a deterrent to this lone super-ultra-mega bomb, which will leave nothing but cockroaches in its wake.
Here's the thing: One-liners like this (and the endless right-wing comparisons to Obama to Neville Chamberlain) shape public opinion far more effectively than actual debate of the details. It's fine if people learn the facts and oppose what's been worked out, but the right is opposing something that's being sketched out for them in apocalyptic terms. Do I think they literally believe that this deal could lead to genocide across continents? Yes, I think they literally believe that. At least I think they viscerally believe it. And that's what we'd get have to get past in order to have a ratonal debate on this subject. I can't imagine that it will be possible.
(Malkin tweet via Digby and Luke Brinker at Salon.)
