THE SHUTDOWN AND OBAMA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME

Want to know where the Tea Party and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) get their juice? Then we need to better understand how bad Obama Derangement Syndrome is in the conservative wing of America.

In a few words, it's pretty bad. Check it out.

* A 2013 poll of Louisiana Republicans shows that 29 percent of them believe that President Obama was responsible for the poor response to Hurricane Katrina, which happened in 2005 (44 percent were "not sure").

* In 2009 more than a third of Republicans believed President Obama was a Muslim. 

* Proving that time is no cure for delusion, in 2012 at least 30 percent of Republicans and 34 percent of conservative Republicans (still) think President Obama is a Muslim. 

* In 2013 at least 20 percent of Republicans believe that President Obama is the anti-Christ.  

* Before the 2012 presidential primary elections more than half of GOP primary voters believed that President Obama was born abroad (which kind of makes sense because, you know, the anti-Christ couldn't be born in America).  

There's more, but you get the point.

The same people who support the Tea Party, believe in death panels, and endorse the lunacy behind the government shutdown are seriously out of touch. This helps to explain why they think they have the authority and support to dictate policy to a sitting president who was re-elected touting his signature piece of legislation.

But what else should we expect from a group where over 60 percent of their followers still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003?

For a great read on what can only be called Obama Derangement Syndrome check out "Embarrassing Misinformation on Obama" from the Washington Post's Dan Milbank. It helps to put the lunacy into perspective.

Oh, one last thing. When Americans are asked about the provisions of the Affordable Care Act - instead of being asked whether they support Obamacare - support for the program jumps to 88 percent.

- Mark