emotion trumps reason in politics

researchers at emory conducted a study (FWIW - netlingo definition) of brain activity of partisans during the 2004 elections.
some of the highlights:

- "Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way"
- "The test subjects on both sides of the political aisle reached totally biased conclusions by ignoring information that could not rationally be discounted"
- "The study points to a total lack of reason in political decision-making."
- "The brain imaging revealed a consistent pattern. Both Republicans and Democrats consistently denied obvious contradictions for their own candidate but detected contradictions in the opposing candidate."

in other words, when people make up their mind, they'll discount or rationalize anything to support their position