LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!

A few years ago, I saw a film that absolutely enthralled me.  Beautifully directed by Tim Burton, Big Fish was the story of Edward Bloom, a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, portrayed by Albert Finney, he remains a huge mystery to his son, William (Billy Crudup). Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures in this marvel of a movie.  I always identified somewhat with Edward Bloom.  I, too, am a man of big appetites, enormous passions and a lover of the good story.  I guess my kids also saw some of Edward in me, because for a time after seeing the movie, they called me Big Fish.  The main reason they called me Big Fish is that I love to tell the tales of my experiences and have been known to embellish the non-critical details from time to time.  This only makes the story more entertaining.  But, as Will found out and my kids and grandkids might find out one day, the basis and gist of those stories are always true.  There isn't a lie in any of them....maybe some cosmetic embellishments, but always the truth!

Unfortunately, in todays world (especially in politics) truth is not a valued commodity.  Actually the opposite is true.  It seems that no one even attempts to make their point by telling the unvarnished, absolute truth about anything.  As a kid, I always felt that one of the worse insults that you could throw at someone was to call them a LIAR.  Today, no one even seems to care about the truth.  And once a lie is told in speech or print, it is almost impossible to undue the perception that the lie is, in fact, the truth...especially when the lie is repeated over and over again.

Now, I am also talking about the twisting and distortion of facts to fit your cause...EVERY politician does that to some extent. There are thousands of examples of small lies but I am talking about what Politifacts  calls "Pants on Fire."  Some recent examples: 

Mitch Daniels, in his answer to the State of The union stated: ""Nearly half of all persons under 30 did not go to work today."  His intent was to show that unemployment has gotten much worse.  Well, Mitch, the reason that nearly half of persons under 30 did not go to work was that they were in school or under the age of 10!  Come on...give me a break!  In the broadest age range -- 16 to 29 -- the unemployment rate is 13.6 percent. For those between 18 and 29, it’s 12.9 percent. For those between 20 and 29, it’s 11.9 percent. And for those between 25 and 29, it’s 9.7 percent.
None of these measures gets Daniels any higher than 13.6 percent of the population -- far lower than the nearly 50 percent figure he cited.

Then there is Mitt Romney's assertion in a recent TV ad where the ad has a clip of Obama saying,"If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose."  The clear implication is that Obama believes that his economic record is so bad that he will lose in 2012 unless he can steer the conversation away from the economy.  Obama actually said in the speech: "Sen. McCain's campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.’"  So the comment is drastically different than the way it's portrayed in the Romney ad.  Obama was actually saying that his opponent’s campaign three years earlier had said, "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose." That context is not included in the Romney ad -- and leaving it out sends a profoundly different message.

It is not even worth mentioning the many lies of Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman or Rick Santorum as their 15 minutes are over, but here is classic Newt Gingrich:  In an interview, Newt said that the ethics investigation against Gingrich was conducted by "a very partisan political committee" in a way that "related more to the politics of the Democratic Party than to ethics."  I don't think so, Newtster.  Politifacts research into the subject is too long to print here but the essence is in their summation: "While it’s true that the Gingrich case became a vicious battlefield between the two parties, contemporary accounts and experts familiar with the proceedings agree that it was not ajudicated by "a very partisan political committee" in a way that "related more to the politics of the Democratic Party than to ethics." The ethics panel’s case only moved forward with the express consent of Republicans, including the committee’s chairwoman, and it was led by a special counsel who was not a Democratic partisan and who focused on substantive legal matters.  Most notably, when it became time to vote, the House -- including nearly 90 percent of voting Republicans -- voted to support the committee’s recommendation. We rate Gingrich’s statement Pants on Fire."

Nor is our President, Mr. Obama, exempt from the Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire tag.  On its web page, The Obama-Biden capmapign says: ""Republican candidates for president Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich all say they would cut foreign aid to Israel — and every other country — to zero.  Stand up to this extreme isolationism and join the call to reject the Romney-Perry-Gingrich plan."  Sorry, Mr. President, this isn't even close to being the truth.  The truth is that all call for a zero-based budgeting process that could very well leave Israel with more funding.  The plan discussed in the foreign policy debate means only that future aid levels for Israel would be subject to negotiations, starting from a baseline of zero rather than the current level. A funding level of zero would be only a theoretical starting point, not an end point, just as easily leaving Israel with higher funding rather than lower.  None of the candidates actually said they supported making Israel’s funding level zero.

I could go on and on with many examples of lies, distortions and generally irresponsible "story telling."  So, who are we to believe?  I, for one, don't believe any politician until I check out the facts.  But since we cannot expect the electorate to do just that, then I guess it comes down to who can tell the most lies, the most times and at the greatest volume.  We are surely going to elect our President, Congressmen, and Senators based on lies, innuendo and half-truths.  And that's a damn shame!

And The Journey continues......................