So what does work? Short of going to war and wearing everyone down with death, misery, grief, infrastructure and economic ruin, what works? Negotiation. Mediation. Education that you will never get exactly what you want, and I won't either.

So, the media needs another food-fight story, and, if there is no real one, just allow themselves to be sucked in by right-wing propaganda. Hence, Benghazi. Again.

Yes, we have now crossed the line, and there will be no turning back. Facts no longer matter, at least to a significant percentage of Americans. To them, all that matters is the "truth," even if they have to lie to defend it.

Why should Bush's many over-indulgences, managerial incompetencies and financial missteps be allowed to kill off programs that were the work of many administrations and the combined will of the American people in the modern era?