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You know, when I try to listen to Rick Santorum, this is what it sounds like to me -- kind of like those Peanuts cartoons where the grownups are talking and all the kids hear is "Wah wah wah!" He just doesn't make sense.

But there are a lot of people who hear something completely different. They hear the trumpets of angels and the voice of God, calling them to protect the unborn from the medical holocaust of abortion.

And there we have it. Because if that's really what you believe, there's no middle ground.

I used to say that if I could sit down with any anti-abortion true believer and talk to them for an hour, I could get them to budge on their absolutes. For a long time, that worked. But I don't think I could do it now. The combination of a black president, Fox News and a tsunami of wingnut think-tank and direct-mail cash paying for a constant drumbeat of "save the babies" has made it almost impossible.

I was visiting an elderly relative yesterday who told me one crazy anti-abortion scare story after another. She believed every single one of them. Did I argue with her? Nope. She wasn't looking for facts. She was looking for redemption.

She told me the story about an ex-abortion doctor who'd seen the light and told people that Planned Parenthood gave birth control to girls they knew was defective -- so they could get them to come back for an abortion.

Those bastards. Once you realize what they're really up to, what caring person would want Planned Parenthood to get one penny of public dollars for this evil scheme?

Sigh... If we ever want to beat the right wing at their game, we need mythic stories like this to capture the public imagination. Spreadsheets, academics and white papers aren't going to do it.