Maybe it's that I've spent so many years watching games and dissecting game plans. I'm also open to the argument that it springs from my deep-seeded opposition to their politics. Probably a synthesis of both – and a few other things thrown in.

But no matter where it comes from personally, Republican politics in this country rings with all the truth of those new tv commercials for the Chrysler Town and Country – the ones with Celine Dion riding along in the front passenger seat, singing to her young son (Presumably that's her husband, Rene behind the wheel – and you wonder if that allows them to park in the elderly spaces when they get to the local Wal-Mart). Yeah. Right.

There's an article in the current Atlantic Monthly that put things in a tighter focus for me – it's amazing how relatively unrelated things can do that for you. The article talks about Dick Morris, Bill Clinton's former pollster, and about how he and his polling partner had devised a much more reliable indicator of who would vote for Clinton than the simple, traditional who-do-you-prefer approach.

Morris had his pollsters ask five questions: Do you believe homosexuality is morally wrong? Do you ever personally look at pornography? Would you look down on someone who had an affair while married? Do you believe sex before marriage is morally wrong? And is religion a very important part of your life?

As Morris defined it, someone with a liberal mindset would dismiss the notion that homosexuality is morally wrong, admits to looking at pornography, doesn't look down on someone for having had an extramarital affair, does not believe premarital sex is wrong, and views religion as being not important in their daily lives.

Respondents who took the liberal position on three of the five questions were inclined to vote for Clinton by a 2-1 margin. Four or five yeses meant an even stronger inclination to vote for Clinton. In effect, this litmus test was the strongest indicator of who someone vote for after party affiliation and race – since black voters are overwhelmingly inclined to vote Democratic.

Do you see the pattern Morris traded upon?

What has been the Republican sales pitch since the death of Lee Atwater and his Willie Horton approach to Presidential politics? Trade on what they've packaged as a decline of moral character in America – decry homosexuality as a sin against nature, decry promiscuity, whether it be inside or outside of marriage, trumpet the need to have Jesus Christ in everyone's life. All straight from that poll. Add to it the politics of abortion, particularly playing up the religious aspects of it to cement that religious affiliation with the Republican party, and since blacks were already going to vote Democratic, play on the tension between the races – especially in the South, where race is still a hotbed issue.

What makes it all ring hollow to me is the way that, once they've gained some level of power, Republican politicians abandon those particular issues and rush to inact an agenda that simply lines the pockets of their wealthy benefactors and themselves.

The Supreme Court has been made up with enough Conservatives to overturn Roe v. Wade now since Scalia was voted to the bench. Why hasn't it been overturned? Because it's not in the best interest of the Republican Party to overturn a woman's right to abortion. It's politically expedient to keep that section of their voter base sufficiently mobilized to keep Republicans in office. Take away their linchpin issue and all those Pro-Lifers fall back into splinter demographics that are more difficult to galvanize.

So, what exactly have Republicans done since taking control of Congress? Offered up an Economic Stimulus package along the lines of their tax-cut of two years ago – heavily, you could call it overwhelmingly, balanced toward the richest one percent of the population.

How do they deal with the Enron, et al, scandals? Make dividend income tax exempt – with an eye toward making stock market losses tax deductible. Oh, and they want to make it harder, if not impossible, to sue corporations for negligence and for mis-, mal- and nonfeasance.

How do they deal with making medical care affordable for everyone? Make it difficult if not impossible for you to sue your HMO.

So, like your basic car commercial, what they say and what the facts say are two different things. But like the salesmen they are, they keep right on saying it. Just so long as they sell the car.

Want to know a little secret from the Republican playbook? Look closely at the charges they level at Democrats in general, and Democratic leadership in particular. Those charges, particularly the ones about playing partisan politics on an issue, are more true of Republicans than of Democrats. They've discovered that if they tar Democrats with that charge first, it makes Republicans immune from recrimination.

That taint of sales hype hangs incredibly thin on the looming invasion of Iraq. The hue and cry is that it's about regime change, it's about disarming a dictator – growing louder when faced with the charge that it's all about oil.

It's not surprising that the emphasis on Afghanistan changed once work began on an oil pipeline that will bring crude from the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean.

But as long as the media is owned, lock, stock and barrel, by conservative corporations, there is little hope that these policies will ring up as a No Sale.

More soon.