Liberals + Halliburton = Conservatives + ACORN

Let me only speak to my conservative readers for a second. How many of you got real tired real fast when liberals turned every Bush policy into a Halliburton conspiracy? Everything from Iraq, energy policy, Iran, to just about everything else that Bush ever made policy toward was viewed by many liberals as a conspiracy to benefit Halliburton. Now, to the same conservative readers, how many of you believe that ACORN is secretly controlling government policy?

After watching with equal parts fascination, amusement and disgust as the left went into full Bush Derangement Syndrome over the previous eight years, I am no less fascinated, amused and disgusted by how quickly much of the right has gone into full Obama Derangement Syndrome. Part of such a syndrome is the presence of all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Remember how we really went into Iraq so that Halliburton could get a bunch of no bid contracts. Remember how Bush allowed to dollar to weaken so that Halliburton could benefit from high oil prices. Now, ACORN is writing the health care bill. The SEIU is writing our labor policies.

The latest conservative obsession is Bob Creamer. Creamer is a felon who's recently been let out of jail. He's also married to Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowski. Schakowski, incidentally, is one district over from me. Her district is just a shade below Pelosi's for liberal tendencies. Now, conservatives are painting Creamer as the "architect" of health care reform. It turns out, surprise surprise, you have a lot of free time in prison. So, Creamer wrote a manifesto called Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight! How Progressives Can Win. On top of all of this, he was once an organizer for, dare I say, ACORN. Well, Conservatives absolutely blew a lid when they found out that Creamer was invited to the White House State Dinner. I don't even know if he himself was invited or if he accompanied his wife, Schakowski.

Now, I have no use for Schakowski. She isn't merely challenging Cindy Sheehan for leftist credentials, but she's a bomb thrower who has little use for the truth. Her husband being a felon is simply icing. Of course, she'll never be voted out. That said, what exactly do the conservatives think they have here. She's in the House leadership. Her husband being a felon isn't new. Are they shocked she was invited to the State Dinner or are they shocked she brought her spouse? The so called manifesto is even more absurd. So what? He had a lot of free time and he wrote a book. Would conservatives have felt better if he got into a series of fights and joined a gang?

Let me let you all in on a secret. Democrats have wanted sweeping health care reform for a century. They've all been trying to figure it out. On this front, Creamer is not new or special. That he wrote a book about it doesn't actually mean he's secretly calling the shots on health care reform.

This is in fact the brave new world lead by Glenn Beck. Everything is a connect the dot to George Soros, ACORN, SEIU, and La Raza. ACORN is a very powerful group. That's what happens when you're an effective organizing force for nearly four decades. That doesn't actually mean that Bertha Lewis is secretly running the closed door sessions on health care. There's no doubt that ACORN is a player in lobbying for health care reform. HCAN was the biggest pro health care reform lobbying group over the summer. ACORN is one of several groups that funds and organizes HCAN. That's no conspiracy. No one is hiding that. Is there something deeper that I'm missing though?

How many times have conservatives pointed out that Andy Stern of the SEIU is the single most common visitor to the White House? Guess what, liberals made similarly sneering remarks about Halliburton's influence in the Bush White House. Do you all believe that Halliburton was secretly making policy? If not, why are you all willing to believe that ACORN secretly is?

There's no doubt that left wing outfits are influencing President Obama. I live six miles from Hyde Park. I know it well. It's the bastion of far left radicals. None of this should surprise anyone. Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton before he was the Vice President also. Am I missing something?

In fact, all this isn't even really about conspiracies at all. Halliburton became a symbol and a mantra for liberals. It represented everything that was wrong with the Republican party. They're too close to business, corrupted by its influence, and making decisions that benefit them at the expense of the rest of us. Isn't that about what the left said about Halliburton? Guess what the right is saying about ACORN. It's a symbol of everything that's wrong with the left. It's too close to the Democrats, corrupted by its influences, and making decisions to benefit them at the expense of the rest of us. Again, am I missing something?

Most of us have stopped analyzing, stopped thinking, and ended understanding. Most of us simply want to demonize, ridicule, and turn our opponents into caricatures using symbols that embody everything we think is wrong. On that, conservatives are no better than liberals.