The Republican Party's Alternate Set Of "Facts"

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) proved that he doesn't really care about deficits when he said "you should never have to offset the cost" of tax cuts for the rich. 

Carly Fiorina, the Republican candidate challenging Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), showed why she was an unsuccessful CEO when she suggested tax cuts "pay for themselves."

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) revisionist history of the Bush tax cuts demonstrates that Republicans really do operate within a set of "facts" that are completely detached from reality:

"That's been the majority Republican view for some time," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told TPMDC this afternoon after the weekly GOP press conference. "That there's no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject."

Of course, McConnell's assertion is absurd.  The $678 billion Bush tax cuts failed to grow the economy, decreased revenue, and remain the largest factor contributing to the deficit (see chart below).  And yet, Republicans still want to make them permanent.  As McConnell said, this is "the view of virtually every Republican."

Paul Krugman calls this "invincible ignorance," while the Washington Post editorial board opts for "nonsense." But, whatever you call it, Republicans are clearly unwilling or unable to come to grips with the damage they did to the country. 

It's worth noting that this isn't a typical policy debate where Republicans are skewing the facts (e.g. overstating the cost of clean energy legislation).  Instead, an entire party is pretending the past didn't happen — or that it happened the way they wish it did.   

Sadly, this isn't the only example of Republicans rewriting history to support their worldview.  For example, Republicans routinely and dishonestly take credit for civil rights legislation whenever race becomes an issue, even though opposition to civil rights came primarily from southern conservatives, the core constituency of today's Republican Party.      

As Washington Monthly's Steve Benen observes, such Republican denialism poses a serious problem for our political discourse. "It makes meaningful, substantive debate quite literally impossible — there's no foundation of reality to build upon," Benen writes. "It's like trying to teach algebra to someone who believes arithmetic is a scam."