Thank you, Jon Stewart, for making something perfectly clear to me, in your obfuscating way.

Given the choice, the Great Unwashed Masses, the Victims of our Tee-Vee Fast Food Era, whom the Left and the Right disdain with equal vanity, will prefer a message that is easy to understand if not totally connected to reality to a message that is difficult to think about yet ultimately sensible. This is why the Republicans have succeeded so brilliantly, and why the Opposition has not made progress. Jon Stewart had a talk this evening with the staunch liberal editor of the oldest newsmag in the nation, The Nation. He repeatedly asked her for a simple summation of the ideals that Liberalism stands for, and she either could not or would not provide it. It may have seemed to her that Stewart was merely attempting to "dumb down" the argument, but his point is clearly valid. Given the above maxim, the Republicans (or Crown Loyalists, to the Regal, Appointed, Annointed Bush) will always hold greater sway over the national debate, for their message is simple and easy on the tummy. The Opposition wants you to have a hernia in the shape of national policy, but few will seek the pain of actually having to digest information with their brains.