***Update: See corrections and further commentary here***

The boss appeared on John Gibson’s show this afternoon to dispatch Rep. Ron Paul and the growing cancer called Trutherism, which not only affected one batty Libertarian on that debate stage last night, but it also infects 1 in 3 Democrats.

That tells you something about why the Democrats are so weak in the war on terror: A big chunk of their base doesn’t believe the war is against a real, external enemy. Trutherism is more comforting than the inconvenient truth that there’s an imperialist and very determined enemy out there that wants us dead or enslaved, and there’s nothing we can do to placate that enemy. Trutherism gives them the false belief that they have some power to end the war against the real enemy — Bush — by either weakening or impeaching him.

As for Rep. Paul, he’s just a blame-America-first loon. We “bombed Iraq for 10 years” to keep Saddam in check against his neighbors, Muslims all, whose countries he had repeatedly invaded. Bin Laden wanted us out of the Middle East because we’re dirty infidels and he wants to turn the region into his own private caliphate on the way to world domination for his brand of Islam. But we’re the bad guy in Paul’s mind? He shouldn’t get within miles of the White House if that’s the way he thinks.

Click to play.