Danger! Danger! Fire Alert!

Danger! Danger! Will Robinson! Fire alert! Danger! Danger! Fire alert!

OK, all kidding aside there is a lot of demolishing of straw men going on in our nation's capital:

When McCain suggests opening up the 1002 area of ANWR for drilling... quick, construct a couple of straw men - "Drilling won't reduce the price of today's gas!" & "Even if we start now it wouldn't have any effect for 7 to 10 years..." Boom, knock it down! High fives all around. Psst, don't mention that a big part of our solution, higher CAFE standards for vehicles. also has a pretty long lead time as well.

When Obama suggested that the U.S. should be willing to sit down and talk to the "axis of evil' ("The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them...is ridiculous... One of the first things that I would do in terms of moving a diplomatic effort in the region forward is to send a signal that we need to talk to Iran and Syria.")... quick, construct a straw man' - "Obama will meet and kow tow to Ahmedin-a-you-know-who..." Boom, knock it down! High fives all around. Psst, don't mention that this is exactly what the current administration has started to do (directly with North Korea, indirectly with Syria...).

The politicians and punditocracy seem to have so much fun demolishing straw men. It's not at all surprising, it 's much easier to do than tackling the difficult issues facing the nation, which are closer to tar babies!