While most cable news discussions today look at the substantive aspects of an issue, many leave one scratching one’s head with how one or another party could stick to their beliefs in the situation. Why are some people not amenable to persuasion by facts? Judge Andrew Napolitano enlisted the help of science historian Michael Shermer to figure out why some “reject an obvious order in the universe.”

The weekly segments Bill O’Reilly shares with Glenn Beck on his program often serve to highlight both a generational shift and an ideological one among the American right– between young and old, conservative and libertarian. And while last Friday’s chat had almost nothing to do with politics, O’Reilly’s reaction to one of Beck’s non-sequiturs proved particularly definitive of the schism Republicans will have to mend to win in 2012: O’Reilly didn’t recognize the name John Galt.

Chris Matthews wanted to summarize the differences between President Obama’s plan to reduce the deficit versus the budget plan put forth by Republican Congressman Paul Ryan. The discussion was going along smoothly until Matthews became flabbergasted that one of his guests thought, for even a moment, that he was on the “far left” of the political spectrum.

The most anticipated political film since the inception of the Tea Party movement is nearing its release, and, just in time for CPAC, the company behind it has released a trailer full of explosions, despicable Washington villains, awkward sexual tension– the kitchen sink of Hollywood advertising gimmicks. With more than on-set interviews to judge Atlas Shrugged: Part I on now, it is abundantly clear that the team behind it went all or nothing on interpreting Ayn Rand‘s classic novel.

Did you know that the film that is potentially the magnum opus of the Tea Party movement is being split in three? And that, despite initial dire reports of economic woes and an inexperienced cast, production on the set of Atlas Shrugged is sailing smoothly? No, you don’t, because you were too busy staring at Andrew Breitbart’s Photoshop doodle of a literal “race card”— not that he didn’t also break that news.

Mark Sanford wrote an essay on Ayn Rand for Newsweek this week. Yes, that Mark Sanford. Where to begin? With how crazy it is that Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, is writing an essay about how useless government is to accomplish anything? Or with the irony of Sanford, who took off to South America to [...]