Everybody lies?

[catsittingstill]

That's what they say about politics: everybody lies. Everybody spins, everybody exaggerates, everybody implies...

But you know, when they're caught--they mostly back off. They look uncomfortable, they try to explain, they drop the subject and talk about something else. 

Except now they don't. No, really, they don't. Even when their claims have been debunked by everybody from ABC to NPR, they don't.

McCain is still claiming that Barak Obama supported explict sex ed in kindergarten (1), even though we all know it was a program to teach kids how to avoid sexual predators. Palin is still claiming she said "thanks but no thanks" on the Bridge to Nowhere (2), even though we all know she pushed for it, didn't get it because Congress killed it, and certainly didn't return the money.

Do McCain and Palin think we're so ignorant we haven't heard the news? Do they think we're so stupid we won't remember the verdict on these assertions? Do they think we're so morally dead we don't care?

If they want to make this an election about character--perfectly reasonable, as they're certainly not ahead on the issues--I wish they would show some.
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(it looks like the adding links thing is not working, so here they are "naked":
(1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091502406.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
(2) http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/13/1394679.aspx

Comments

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Him and Colin Powell. A lot of my rage at those two stems from the feeling that they conned me and America into once thinking they were among the good guys.

In my more charitable moments, I consider the possibility that maybe they actually used to be decent, and that Bush just squeezed all the decent out of them, took a leak on it, and dumped it down the sewer, along with everything else decent that he ever got his hands on.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Colin Powell believed the BS fed him, and repeated it, giving W. credibility. Powell was furious his honor and trustworthiness, earned so hard in the first Gulf War, was used to further the Iraq agenda. He resigned from office so it would never happen again. I still respect him, and think he's still decent.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

So Powell says.

Since he lied to the entire United Nations with a straight face, he's probably willing to lie just as baldly to the American people.

I'll never trust that phony general again. Anyone who does is a fool.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I tend to lean toward believing this myself.

But given that he was fooled into lending his credibility to bolster a lie, I'll certainly take anything else he says with a grain of salt.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

And I think it well to be noted how - silent - he is during this election. He's not lending his credibility or endorsements to *anyone* that I've heard of.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

I still respect Powell, think he's a good man, and agree with your comment on his fury. However I'm not completely convinced that her really did believe the BS. Listening to his voice as he was testifying, I thought I noticed ... something. Something uncomfortable? Trying to convince himself? Don't know -- just something "off". I think what I believe is that he was tricked into testifying.

Will you tell Congress what we know about the Middle East?

     Sure.

Cool -- here's what we know.

     But I don't believe that...
     But the boss says it's true...
     And I did say I'd testify...
     And what if I'm wrong...
     ... after all he _does_ have "intelligence" supporting it ...
     And I did say I'd testify, and he does tell me it's true, and he is the boss...

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I think Colin Powell was okay--I think he was fooled into using his credibility to back Bush's lies, but I think he believed the lies at the time.

But I don't trust him anymore, because, well, if Bush could fool him I need to take into account that anyone coming down the pike could fool him.