Read Paul Krugman.

I don't want to be an alarmist, but whether you're conservative, liberal, or, as I try to be, independent, it's important to think clearly about what's happened to American politics. There are a few people with the intellectual vigor to produce clarity. Krugman is one.

What Mr. Rove understood, long before the rest of us, is that we're not living in the America of the past, where even partisans sometimes changed their views when faced with the facts. Instead, we're living in a country in which there is no longer such a thing as nonpolitical truth. In particular, there are now few, if any, limits to what conservative politicians can get away with: the faithful will follow the twists and turns of the party line with a loyalty that would have pleased the Comintern.

For the rest of the column, click my headline, above.