When is "opinion" really just near-delusional denial of the facts? In this age of "gotcha" journalism, have "facts" become evanescent things that can support both sides at once, like photons passing through a diffraction grating?
When I'm not being called a "commie," a "traitor," or an "America-hater" by the knuckle-dragging progeny of an incestuous trailer-park relationship, the more civil among the right wing will listen more-or-less politely to my carefully researched litany of indictments of Bush and the GOP, and then respond, "Yeah, but that's just your opinion."
Is it?
Is it "just my opinion" that Bush repeatedly side-stepped his duty to enforce the law by attaching hundreds of "signing statements" to bills he signed?
Is it "just my opinion" that the stated reason for our invasion of Iraq - WMDs - turned out to be based on flawed intelligence that was, in all likelihood, cherry-picked by an administration eager for war? Is it "just my opinion" that the stated reasons for the invasion kept being altered by the administration as the facts came to light? Is it "just my opinion" that preparation for the occupation once Saddam was deposed was non-existent, largely because Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld deliberately ignored senior members of the Defense and State Departments who possessed vastly superior knowledge of that part of the world?
While we're at it, is it "just my opinion" that, despite the scientific community's consensus that global warming is real, and represents a possibly devastating threat to civilization - a conclusion also reached by the Pentagon's own experts - the Bush administration deliberately suppressed information about global warming and refused to join other industrialized nations in pledging to reduce CO2 emissions?
I could obviously go on and on. The body of facts overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that the Bush presidency has been an abomination, and that the implementation of conservative policies has been a disaster for this country. Yet the best we can hope for from the right wing, when confronted with the evidence, is, "Sorry, that's just your opinion."
The implication, of course, is that their opinion holds that Bush has been a wonderful chief executive - "He kept us safe from the terrorists" is one justification I often hear - and everyone is entitled to his own opinion.
But, as goes the quote attributed to the late NY Senator Pat Moynihan, among others, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."
So, just how valid is the "opinion" that Bush has been a really swell president, despite all the shortcomings I listed earlier? Simple: As valid as the "opinion" that the Holocaust never actually occurred - a belief shared by a surprising number of historical revisionists around the world. Or, as valid as the "opinion" that segregation was not only legal, but preferable, and that "separate but equal" was Constitutionally valid - another belief that still holds sway in large swaths of the American South. Or, perhaps as valid as the "opinion" that human beings appeared in their present form shortly after the Earth was formed - 6,000 years ago - despite the presence of 4.5 billion year-old rocks in this planet's crust, along with fossil evidence of transitional, "primitive" humans dating back millions of years.
In other words, there are beliefs that persist as allegedly valid "opinion," despite overwhelming evidence that disproves them. I could easily declare that it's my opinion that the Earth is flat, even though we've all seen pictures of our globe from space; all I have to do is ignore the evidence and live in a near-delusional state of denial. Just like people who believe that the Holocaust never occurred. Just like people who believe it's legal to segregate people based on skin color. Just like people who believe that the Biblical story of Creation is literally true, and that evolution is a lie.
Just like people who believe that George W. Bush has been a good president.
Sorry, conservatives, but you aren't entitled to your own facts - and the facts prove that Bush has been a miserable failure as president, and that Republican rule has done incalculable harm to this country. Anyone who claims otherwise is living in a state of denial.
But, that's just my opinion.