Seriously, when did we, as a people, go insane? It's a fair question given the past couple of weeks in the news. When did our brains become so warped and folded in on themselves that we can't see the reality in front of us? When did everything become a conspiracy?

We understand the Limbaughs, the Hannitys and the Olbermanns going off the deep end. It's their job to entertain their audience. Somewhere in time they crossed the line from political commentary into infotainment bluster. Somehow Jon Stewart became America's most trusted journalist. Stephen Colbert and Bill O'Reilly are interchangeable .Even Glenn Beck, who we have always felt presented the best factual base for his show has gone off the deep end, selling conspiracy theories along with doomsday food supplies.

They have transcended from talking heads into prophets preaching the gospel of of panic and serving up the fear flavored Kool-Aid. More and more of us are drinking up that Kool-Aid. More and more of us are having our brains turned to mush and becoming the resident zombies of Crazyland.

We at TPP have been rocked back on our heels in the aftermath of the shooting of Osama bin Laden. In our piece, we put forward the view that Bin Laden was a murderous coward, and that President Obama made the right call. The fact were the facts, and all in all it was a good day for America.

Monday morning hit, and talk radio needed to sell some product. After the perfunctory kudos to the military for getting the job done, and congrats to Obama for making the right call, the bus to Crazytown took off. Limbaugh led off with a parody piece spoofing Obama's larger than life ego. Worse than being in poor taste, it wasn't even funny. Hannity riffed on how Bush deserves the credit, not Obama. Olbermann, relegated to that cable channel that no one can find attacked both Bush and Obama from the left.

By Tuesday morning, Beck had morphed a good day for America into a byzantine conspiracy funded by George Soros and portraying Obama as Dr. Evil, selling us out to the globalists. It has degraded from there into a mish-mosh dissecting, justifying and vilifying everything from the prison in Guantanamo, water-boarding, and Obama continuing policies created by Bush. Oh, and that Bin Laden is still alive and well in the Lincoln bedroom sipping tea with the President. Apparently, this is what happens when a slow news day follows a big news story.

We're not going to beat the dead horse of media excess here. Everyone is aware of the problem. It's a civil war between Fox News and MSNBC, or Fox News and everyone else depending on your location on the right or left wing. We are not concerned with that, though it is what happens when gigantic media companies own the press. It's why Lindsay Lohan gets an equal footing to the situation in the Middle East on the nightly news.

Our concern is that regular everyday people with common sense don't realize that they are having smoke blown up their behinds. Both Fox and MSNBC used Donald Trump and the birther issue to their own advantage, and the American public lost out. Ditto for the Osama death pictures. They are BS issues. They are going nowhere, and it is distracting the GOP from the legitimate beef that they do have with the Obama Administration.

The economy stinks, unemployment was reported back up to 9% this morning. Foreclosures are up, and the good new is that the price of gasoline is leveling off. Seriously, that was the GOOD news this morning. We have military actions going in 5 countries right now (if you aren't keeping track - Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan and as of this morning, Yemen - missed that one this morning didn't you?). There's that health care law, the budget deficits, and the insolvency of Medicare and Social Security. REAL NEWS PEOPLE!

And yet we get our panties in a bunch over a birth certificate, college transcripts or a photo of Bin Laden with a hole blown through it. At this point, he's dead, and that works for me. We have serious issues to address in this country, and they are not getting addressed with these trivialities sucking all of the air out of the room.

The GOP has good and legitimate reasons to take on Obama head first. The debate in SC showed 5 candidates bringing it to Obama on real issues. This other nonsense is the equivalent of going after Clinton for a blowjob. There are so many better reasons to go after the guy.

The GOP needs to do it like it was done in SC at the debate - clear, concise and issue based. The Republicans need to come up with a credible candidate who can articulate a clear message as to why their approach is the better one. That's what they need to win. That and that alone. Every time a candidate gets side tracked on fluff, they lose an opportunity to present a vision that the American people are ready to embrace.

Can we all try to decide to not rise to the bait the next time someone decides to suspect a conspiracy? Keeping our eye on the ball is more important than blindly swinging at every wild pitch. Obama does not get discredited by these comic book conspiracies. We do, because we look crazier than Obama does. He got elected by not scaring the beejesus out of the middle class, and saying nothing of substance during the whole election campaign. . We can win the 2012 election by not scaring the middle class, and actually explaining how our solutions will benefit them. The GOP does have solid conservative ideas (that John Boehner is consistently stepping away from, but we deal with that in 2012 as well)..

As a media outlet we hold a conservative ideology, but we aim to be responsible and fact-based. As the saying goes - everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts. We give voice to a variety of viewpoints when well argued, and based in fact.  It is our purpose to educate here, and granted that education comes from a conservative vantage point, but we are sticking to the issues that are real issues with serious consequence for the country.  If the GOP cares to win in 2012, they should do likewise. So says Common Sense.

RLB