Because I had to Say Something:

I was just reading Atrios's post as well as the Media Matters link to the Limbaugh story, and I was wondering:

Why do we treat these people as anything other than liars? Is it like calling them Nazis, where some people simply stop listening?

Is there any advantage to treating them like reasonable people who might be swayed by a real argument, when we know that they are lying and will continue to lie to get whatever it is they want?

For instance:

Peter Beinart: I think Bush is right about preemption. For one thing, we aren't containing Saddam now--he's been free to build up his chemical, biological, and nuclear arsenal for almost four years now.

He lied. And any one of us can prove it with data, with facts, he lied. Why can't someone further up the food chain than me just say so?