Do you believe in magic?

[Update below]

One of the top "vote-getting" questions for Republican candidates coming from readers at The Politico was, "do you believe in evolution?" When asked if there was anyone on the stage who does not believe in evolution, three hands went up. There's your Bush-supporting 30%. The GOP simply will not abandon hapless illiterates. Of course, without them, they'd never win another election, which is why they cater to this lowest of denominators.

Incidentally, I think the "plug" for The Politico by the moderator was brilliant. By saying that this question was a "top vote getter" from readers at The Politico, he slyly pointed out those readers' facile and idiotic concerns. Nice one. Of course, "readers" of the Politico probably were pumped up by the recognition, which amounted to, "hey everyone, check out the idiots who read The Politico." I'm sure it flew right past them.

Update: Or maybe not. It turns out that there may have been a more transparent reason for the specific mention of The Politico during the debate last night. As Glenn Greenwald notes, the chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Reagan Library (where the debate was hosted), Frederick Ryan, is also president and CEO of The Politico. So much for a clever put down. It now looks more like the overt plug that it first appeared to be. Sigh.

By the way, read the whole Greenwald post, as it details the nefarious connections and background of those who came to fund The Politico, which now has all the appearances of a pure GOP propaganda machine (Augusto Pinochet even makes an appearance). Of course, it was not hard to figure that out just from the content alone.