Why Don't We Steal Away

Well, I can't say I'm surprised at this, but Republicans have finally just gone over the edge.  They're insane.  They do not respond to reality well.  More than half of them, according to this poll from Public Policy Polling, believe President Obama stole the election with the help of ACORN.

The Republican base is with him though. PPP's newest national survey finds that a 52% majority of GOP voters nationally think that ACORN stole the Presidential election for Barack Obama last year, with only 27% granting that he won it legitimately. Clearly the ACORN card really is an effective one to play with the voters who will decide whether Hoffman gets to be the Republican nominee in a possible repeat bid in 2010.

Belief in the ACORN conspiracy theory is even higher among GOP partisans than the birther one, which only 42% of Republicans expressed agreement with on our national survey in September.

Overall 62% of Americans think Obama legitimately won the election to only 26% who think ACORN stole it for him, as few Democrats or independents buy into that line of thinking.

Are you kidding me?  Only 27% of Republicans think he's legitimately President.  One in four.  Really?  Obama stole the election?  Rather than even entertain the possibility that America rejected Republicans after Bush, three-quarters of Republicans doubt Obama won the election.  They do not believe he is actually the President.

This goes beyond denial.  This goes straight to mass hysteria.

[UPDATE 3:58 PM] Digby gets it.

The conservative movement has long held that Democrats can never be legitimate office holders because it is an article of faith that a majority of the country believes as they do. The Village agrees --- they are always going on about how "this is a conservative country." So they can't compute how a person who doesn't run openly and proudly as a conservative Republican could possibly legitimately win an election.

As does D-Day:

Though a majority of Americans believe the President legitimately won the election, the fact that so many Republicans believe in what practically every actual study has shown to be a mythical scenario of voter fraud has value for the conservative movement in delegitimizing Democratic political figures. This moves the rhetoric on the conservative side further and further to the right, as an illegitimate figure is easily demonized, and conservatives willing to believe in an fantasy “stolen election” scenario are willing to believe in all kinds of conspiracies.

If Republicans are convinced Obama stole the election, then why should they even afford him basic human decency?

[UPDATE 2 5:04PM] Steve at NMMNB explores this new ACORN: Liberal Supervillain Organization angle.