Author of The New York Times’ Con­sumed col­umn, Rob Walker, dis­sects a Weekly Stan­dard arti­cle dis­cussing the first pres­i­den­tial debate between Obama and McCain to answer the ques­tion: what’s the dif­fer­ence between rhetoric and cog­ni­tive dissonance?

Both can result in points of view that are so biased that they have no con­nec­tion to real­ity. But one involves com­mu­nica­tive sleight of hand to mis­lead the reader/listener, while the other involves a deeper form of dis­hon­esty: Dis­hon­esty with the self.

It all comes down to: “we tend to bend what we see to fit our exist­ing per­cep­tions and biases — no mat­ter how much dis­so­nance there is between new facts and pre­vi­ously held con­vic­tions. […] It is hard to change a mind that is already made up.”