Partisan defenders of irrational positions get rewarded by their brains in the same way drug addicts get rewarded by addictive drugs.
. . .
The feeling of partisan loyalty is an obstacle to rational thought. Abandon your partisan loyalties and the effect will be to boost your ability to understand political events.

Also, distrust the most partisan commentators who defend the leaders of their factions. Their odds of making sense and being correct are lower than for less partisan commentators.

Addicts of partisanship need treatments that will prevent them from getting high from defending their tribes.

“Political Partisans Addicted To Irrational Defense Of Their Tribes” (should read: “Political Partisans Addicted To Irrational Defense Of Their Cults”)

See, e.g., “Obama Wins 8 of 10 Wealthiest Counties in US“:

The 10 richest counties accounted for 1,337,700 votes, or about 1.1 percent of the national popular vote.

In the richest, Massachusetts’ Nantucket County, where average annual household income is over $137,000, Obama won by 63 percent to Romney’s 36 percent with all precincts reporting. The richest county in Romney’s home state is also where, just prior to accepting the Republican nomination, the former Massachusetts governor held a $75,000-per-person dinner fundraiser.

In none of the richest counties was the margin of victory wider than in California’s Marin County, just north of San Francisco, where the president won by 74 percent to 23 percent, with all precincts reporting. In Marin, the average annual household income is $128,544.