Every week the Tennessee Republican Party puts out a work of creative fiction to "inform" the party faithful on all the great things the GOP is doing for them. This week's edition talks about the Presidential primaries, noting differences between the parties and highlighting "what's at stake."

Normally these propaganda pieces are good for a chuckle and then they hit the recycle bin. But this one is so full of misdirection, misinformation, and at least one outright lie that I thought I should bring it to your attention in case you weren't aware of what Tennessee Republicans are being spoon fed by their party apparatchik. This is what we are up against...

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE

TNGOP: The debate over issues that have focused on national security, health care and the economy and faith and family issues have served to strengthen our Party. All of these issues represent the priorities of the people of the Republican Party.

FACT: According to a recent WSMV poll, health care is dead last and barely on the radar of Republican voters. Iraq as a proxy for national security is a weak fourth. See for yourself:

What is the single most important issue among Republicans in deciding which candidate to support?

The economy 28%
Family Values 25%
Immigration 18%
War In Iraq 13%
Change in Washington 12%
Health Care 4%

It would also seem that the GOP presumptive nominee's positions on family values and the economy are at extreme odds with the party. His health care proposals borrow extensively from the Democratic candidate's plans. The GOP didn't support their strongest candidate on the economy, so he had to drop out. I'm not seeing a strengthened Republican party. I'm seeing a train wreck.

TNGOP: In the Democrat primary, both candidates, Senator Clinton and Barack Obama, reflect almost identical issues. However, the division has grown along racial and gender lines.

FACT: The GOP and the GOP controlled mainstream media have manufactured the so-called racial and gender divide. If there is a divide, it is along generational lines, with formerly apathetic, now outraged young voters energized by years of catastrophic GOP policies that threaten their future, and older voters who fear Republicans will dismantle programs such as Medicare and Social Security that have helped seniors stay out of poverty and live out their lives with dignity. Both are united in one goal: a Democrat in the White House.

TNGOP: In unifying behind a single candidate, history shows that debate over issues is much healthier than personal politics aligned among demographics such as gender and race.

FACT: The GOP is hardly unified behind their single candidate. He is the target of vicious attacks by conservative radio talk show hosts and pundits who tell the Republican faithful what to think. The leader of their own party, the President of the United States, won't even endorse him. The main "issue" during their debates was "who is more like Reagan." The GOP is no longer a political party. It's a cult of personality, with a declining membership consisting of a single demographic: white men.

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

TNGOP The next President will appoint at least one Justice to the Supreme Court.

FACT: This is the single nugget of truth in this entire packet of misinformation. It's puzzling, though, why they would want to bring this up. The current Republican president, who would not have a job if not for the Supreme Court, nominated his secretary who was in no way qualified. The nomination was met with sharp criticism and outright ridicule by his own party and had to be withdrawn in disgrace.

Her replacement, a radical right winger, sets the court up as a corporate protection racket and assures rubber stamp approval of further government attacks on our civil liberties. His other appointment, while not quite the extremist, will preside over the court for an entire generation.

So, yes, it's important. It's important that we undo the damage done to the court and to the process by Republicans. It's important to have a Democrat in the White House to restore balance to the Supreme Court.

TNGOP: The next President will lead the War on Terror against radical Islamic terrorists.

FACT: The current Republican president's "war on terror" has been an abysmal, catastrophic failure that has created new breeding grounds for terrorists, aligned world opinion against the United States and our foreign policy, cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers and countless civilians, and plunged America into debt that several generations will be paying off. Meanwhile the perpetrator of the Sept. 11th attacks has not been brought to justice, and in fact government reports suggest our enemies are stronger than ever. If I were a Republican, that's not exactly the record I would want to run on.

TNGOP: The next President will determine the policies impacting our economy by either raising taxes while increasing government spending or cutting taxes and shrinking federal spending.

FACT: The Tennessee GOP forgot the third option: cutting taxes and raising spending. This is the policy of the current Republican administration and the previously Republican controlled Congress. Any fifth grader can do the math and tell you it doesn't add up. When Bush took office, he inherited from the previous Democrat a $230 billion budget surplus and a projected ten year surplus of $5 trillion. When Bush heads back to the ranch in Kennebunkport, he will leave behind $5.5 trillion in debt and a deficit of $400 billion, plunging America into a recession and an unprecedented erosion of middle class economic well being. So voters should indeed ask themselves, who has a better record on fiscal policy?

TNGOP: The next President will either address health care accessibility by working to have citizens own their health care policy and decisions or have the government turn into the provider of services and determine who delivers your care while garnishing your wages.

FACT: This is just a flat out lie and there's no other polite way to say it. Neither Democrat running for president has proposed or even advocated government provided health care or any other form of "socialized medicine." This is a GOP manufactured lie intended to scare voters. Both Democratic candidates advocate traditional insurance programs similar to what the president and Congress currently enjoy. The only difference is, insurance companies would be required to cover everyone instead of dumping the poor and "uninsurable" on state Medicaid programs and taxpayers.

And even if America came to our senses and adopted a single-payer health insurance system (as opposed to "socialized medicine"), it would not dictate who delivers your health care. Medicare is a perfect example of just such a system. Can the Tennessee GOP name a single instance of the government dictating to a Medicare patient where they must go to get health care? Can they give the names and addresses of the government run Medicare hospitals and government employed Medicare doctors? I didn't think so.

The simple fact is, Republicans hate Medicare (and SCHIP) because it proves that a single payer, government run insurance program a) works, and b) is more cost effective.

When Bush took office, there were 38 million uninsured. There are now 48 million uninsured and the number is growing. Republicans have done nothing to address the problem, except make it worse. Bush even vetoed legislation that would have provided health insurance to millions of uninsured children. Meanwhile, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies continue to rack up record profits.

Why Republicans want to run on this record is a mystery. The choice is clear if we really want to start solving the health care crisis in America: A Democrat in the White House and a Democratic majority in Congress.

TNGOP: The next President will deal with the issue of illegal immigrants by enforcing the border and current laws or issue illegal immigrants drivers’ licenses, as both Democrats have agreed to do.

FACT: The current Republican president has not dealt with the issue, and has in fact looked the other way while record numbers of undocumented workers flood across our borders to be exploited by American employers. Yet the GOP has somehow managed to create a wedge issue out of this while offering no solutions. In fact, their presumptive nominee is completely out of step with the GOP base on immigration.

Meanwhile, right wing extremists offer up ridiculous proposals such as "Berlin Wall" type fences, and would deny education and health care to the children of undocumented workers while allowing their employers to continue exploiting them. Everyone agrees that we need a rational and humane immigration policy, and that it is impractical if not impossible to "round up the illegals" and deport them. The only disagreement is what the policy should be and how we get there. Based on the Republican record of the last seven years, it should be clear that a new approach is needed, and that the first step is a Democrat in the White House.

TNGOP: The next President will be required to honestly work to keep Social Security from going bankrupt through policies that keep the program intact and available or by cutting the eligibility or raising taxes.

FACT: This is a classic misdirection play based partially on made up scare tactics and partially on the dismal failure of Republican policies. Social Security is not "bankrupt" and is projected to be fiscally sound for several decades. There would be no concern at all if the current Republican president and the Republican controlled Congress had not blown through the previous Democratic president's budget surpluses and raided the Social Security "lockbox" to pay for a war of choice based on lies, leaving behind a stack of IOUs for Baby Boomers and future generations.

By cutting taxes, increasing spending and raiding the Treasury, Republicans have created this "crisis" by their own hand, and now they new beat us over the head with it as if it were our fault. Unfortunately, there may have to be a tax increase to fix it. But fortunately it's a simple fix: eliminating the income cap on Social Security payroll deductions so that a corporate executive making $500,000 per year chips in the same percentage as a working family making $50,000 per year.

Thankfully, we have strong Democratic candidates running for president who aren't afraid to tell America the truth. Unlike Republicans, who want Americans who already have a zero or negative savings rate for the first time since the Depression to divert their Social Security to private investments for the benefit of their pals on Wall Street. How's your 401K doing right now, America?

In conclusion, the TNGOP says: "The list is not exhaustive. The issues, however, will show the very bright lines and the tremendous gulf that separates the philosophies and values between the Republican and the Democrat Presidential Nominee."

On this we agree. There are distinct differences between the Republican and the Democrats running for president. One need only look at the Republican record to see the simple truth: America needs a Democrat in the White House.