Monday, October 15, 2012

When politicians lie it looks like they're telling the truth

Lying politicians don't lie like your five year old son, stammering and fidgeting and shifty-eying. Nossir. The lie in a calm, collected manner. They wear a suit and tie (if they're men) just like your pastor's. They look you right in the eye. And they back up their lie(s) with fake facts, fake stats, fake studies--lots of them.

Thus when CEO Romney tried to counter the fact that the arimatic of his budget proposal doesn't add up, he cited six studies that refuted the study the President referred to.

One the study the President cited was a reputed, nonpartisan, authoritative group's study, while all of Romney's weren't studies at all--mostly they were blog entries and a Wall Street Journal editorial.

There were six of them, though. He wasn't lying about that.

But here's the biggest problem: both parties' lies tell each party's partisans exactly what they want to be true. They reaffirm each side's tribalists' belief that all things good and true accrue to their side and their side alone--and vice-versa.

Even when they shake the Etch-A-Sketch and start to say the exact opposite of what they'd been saying for two years, partisans happily accept that if the candidate winks to them that he's just saying these things to fool non-partisans into voting for them.

Partisans always believe their ends justify their means (and that your ends don't of course).




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