Read Jay Rosen on Bush's "Retreat from Empiricism"

Jay Rosen has written a very thoughtful and important article about how little respect for 'reality' or facts the Bush administration has; they are about manipulating the beliefs of the press and public and otherwise 'reality' can take a back seat. As Stephen Colbert insists "truthiness" is what counts:

the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.

Or, if you prefer, 'reality is just a crutch.'