I remember that we have "Industrial sociology" on the college (well, sociology adapted to the working places, concrete and interesting stuff). And old professor told us that being right into some job/private problem/discussion isn`t enough, and even can be a dangerous thing. Most of the people most of the time aren`t lead by the facts, but their attitudes - and those attitudes "modulate" the facts, and "mix" them with emotions...
That is the point; I think both posts make; people really believe what they want to believe. Then they manufacture a whole schema to back it up. If you disagree they take it personally. Hillary asks Rumsfeld; "You have been wrong so many times so far in this war why should we believe anything you say now?" "Gosh; I don't think I ever painted a rosy picture of the outcome of this conflict." Old Donny is like the husband caught in the bed with the babysitter. "I don't care what you saw; I didn't do it."
They cal it" Cognitive Dissonance", when something is obvious and evident and right in front of you and you still deny it is there.
Thats right; if you repeat a lie often enough people will begin to believe it. I would like to see if people think the Iraq tri-partite government will grant autonomy to the Kurds or if there will be a serious war that drags in Turkey and Iran and the EU? Them Kurds can fight.