This morning, the pundits, led by David Brooks in the New York Times bemoans the civility of last night’s Democratic debate in Nevada: “I’ve seen more conflict at a pacifists’ stir-fry,” he says.

Of course, for these misbegotten souls of the Fourth Estate, conflict is their Raison d’etre. In the absence of substantive “conflict” these sideshow barkers have done their best to make some – however thin the evidence.

In the last two weeks we have been subjected to one fiction after another – from the greatly exaggerated death of Sen Clinton’s political career, to her so-called “meltdown” (see Jon Stewart on this one) to last week’s fabricated racial insults

What is extraordinary is the degree to which the mob of media hacks latched on and amplified any perceived “conflict” between the Dems into a full fledged race war while continuing to largely ignore the blood bath that has become the current Republican party .

Even Brooks was forced to recognize Rush Limbaugh’s comment yesterday that should McCain or Huckabee win the nomination that: “…it’s going to destroy the Republican Party, it’s going to change it forever, be the end of it.”

The Great White Hope that was Rudy Giuliani is rapidly becoming this season’s great white elephant. Even the New York Post, which has been cheerleading his candidacy since – oh, I don’t know – September 12th, 2001? – appears to be losing faith Here’s a quote:

“He’s been reduced to watching from the sidelines and praying for other people to lose - like McCain in Michigan so his momentum would be stalled - rather than getting in the game and winning himself.

In fact, Rudy’s campaigned so badly that the latest poll shows him losing New Jersey, which had a front-row seat for his shining moment during 9/11.

Even fringe candidate Ron Paul - the million-to-one long shot everybody picks on to make themselves look good - is beating Giuliani.”

To see where a candidate stands on the issues, visit Issue 2008