Man walks out of jail after
27 years for crime he did
not commit, is hit by a taxi.
Why do Republicans lie? I wanted to say, “so much,” but that would be misleading, insinuating that they might not lie all the time. I trust no one is going to challenge my assertion that they lie. The evidence is ubiquitous and overwhelming. For example, Condi Rice recently insisting that no one in the Bush administration ever linked Sadam Hussein and Iraq to 9/11, a blatant lie, Dick Cheney insisting that Iraq had ties to al Qaida, Bush claiming we do not torture, many of them on WMD’s and “mushroom clouds,” Ari Fleischer on nation-building, Bobby Jindal on Katrinia, others on the high-speed train from Disney to Las Vegas, and their current lies about the Employee Free Choice Act, and on and on. Republican lies are too numerous and consistent to even try to completely document, just look up “Republican lies” on Google and get an eyeful. Yesterday some Republican kept repeating something about the “huge bureaucracy” Obama would create. I don’t know what this was about as I have never heard anyone else even mention bureaucracy. Anyway, as I am confident Republicans lie incessantly, I have been led to wonder why.
Obviously it would not do to simply claim Republican lying is a genetic trait, even though it seems it might be because it is so widespread. Thus it must be learned, nurture rather than nature. It must be due to their enculturation. That is, once they accept Republicanism they are then brainwashed into lying. This is at least partly true, I think, because of the fact that Bush/Cheney never told the truth about anything and followers do seem to follow the leader. Furthermore, the Republicans in the last eight years have developed the use of “talking points,” that must be used by all. As these talking points invariably were riddled with falsehoods the lying became epidemic. And you will remember that once one of these talking points was released you could find them being repeated ad nauseam by all Republicans.
Then there is the obvious point that they have to lie because they do not dare to speak the truth. What did they accomplish over the past eight years they could feel justified in mentioning? Nothing, that’s what, so they have no choice but to lie. Not only can they not boast of their achievements, they must also deny some of them which, again, requires them to lie.
Still another reason they lie, I suppose, is because they only listen to liars. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, and many others, especially on Fox News, all of whom are professional liars, that’s how they make their living. And who listens to these lying hatemongers, Republicans, of course. And the lies they tell get repeated endlessly by their gullible “dittoheads” that are so certain of their beliefs they refuse to even look anywhere else where they might find the truth, or at least a different opinion. Lied to by the party leaders, and lied to on a daily basis by these radio and television liars, the Republican world view is nothing but a gigantic web of lies: Ronald Reagan was wonderful, FDR was terrible, taxes are terrible, the poor are terrible, anything designed for the common good is “socialism” or “communism,” greed is good, government is bad, “trickle-down economics,” Democrats just tax and spend, and so on. Clifford Geerts once wrote that people “are suspended in “webs of significance they themselves have spun.” Unfortunately, the webs of significance Republicans have spun have proven to be totally self-serving and harmful to others, as well as the nation, and are now collapsing from the winds of reality and justice.
Some of their lies are so patently silly or ridiculous that virtually no one believes them except for the most extreme and far-out loonies that infest the Republican party: Obama is not qualified to be President because of his birth, for example, even though this has been officially disproven, or Obama is a secret Muslim sent here to destroy America, and such. I won’t even mention what you might see on the tabloids. Other of their lies probably capture a somewhat larger audience who want to believe the worst: Obama is a communist, Obama is a socialist, Obama is a fascist, Obama wants to take away their guns, Obama will raise everyone’s taxes, and so on. These lies are the most insidious because they are not necessarily so outrageous enough to be dismissed out of hand, especially by those who want Obama to fail. Even so, the most outrageous liar of them all, Dick the Slimy, has finally gone too far and is being castigated and shushed by his fellow Republicans (where have they been all this time). In any case, now that Republicans have been exposed as simply the bankrupt party of “no,” they have no choice but to continue their web of lies. Remember that once you tell one lie, unless you immediately repudiate it, you must tell another to defend it. And then another to defend that, and still another, and another. Soon you are living in a web of lies you yourself have spun and it is too late to do anything but continue lying. But, not to worry, by now it is completely naturally to them and the truth is no longer available to them.
LKBIQ:
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
Mark Twain
TILT:
Albatrosses have an acute sense of smell.
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Why are democrats so fond of stereotypes also comes to mind. Condi Rice is likely deceiving herself. There were strong ties, according to the 9/11 Commission, just not ties to organize an attack against the US- lots of meetings were reported. And we know from intelligence in the report Iraqi Support for Terrorism that Al Qaeda was interested in acquiring biological or nuclear or chemical weaponry. We also had likely false intelligence from al-Libi that Iraq had provided Al Qaeda with training. In a jumpy climate such as after 9/11, it’s understandable Bush would jump the gun a bit.
Yes, politicians lie. Democrats do it too. Hilary Clinton didn’t dodge bullets in Bosnia. After Al Gore cut all links with the tobacco industry after his sister died of lung cancer (he says he cut the links) the next year, he fought tooth and nail against tax increases on cigarettes and death labels and got paid lots of money.
The heathcare bill has numerous regulatory agents. This is it’s intention, as it’s meant to be safe, and well regulated. Just because you only view liberal sources which don’t particularly care to highlight that fairly obvious, and given how much they’re spending, necessary truth, doesn’t mean it’s a lie. These regulatory agents will employ people who try to intelligently interpret the rules, bureaucrats. Republicans believe there are too many of them, and so they won’t be efficient.
And certainly, democrats don’t have a website called talking points memo as one of their most popular blog sites, or ever simplify complex ideas into talking points.
Bush’s good points. Heavy growth for eight years, despite inheriting a recession from Clinton, trying (but being blocked by both parties) to regulate GSEs better to prevent the recession from 2003, removing 13 million low income people from the income tax rolls and increasing the tax burden on the rich 67-70%, a major multinational network of nations which share intelligence on terrorists, much better relationships with India and China, green biofuel cooperatives with Brazil, air pollution down 12%, Major Economies Process to try and get China and other developing nations to reduce their emissions.
And of course, democrats have David Letterman, Michael Moore, Al Franken again, and Al Gore. Often insulting, ready to make nazi references and to a man believing that anyone who opposes them must be evil.
Republicans unsurprisingly dislike successful democrats, and like successful republicans, since democrats do things they dislike and republicans do things they like. Democrats believe the opposite. They prefer tax cuts, like most people. They donate far more to the poor than democrats, and Bush’s tax cuts removed a lot of poor people from the tax rolls. Bush was a compassionate conservative, and as such strongly believed in socialisty things- no child left behind, increased senior drug access. Most support welfare that involves getting poor people to work- teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life, and such. Democrats have their own talking points as well. Some believe them, some don’t.
Paranoia is the style in American politics. I mean, 35% of democrat voters believed that the government had organized 9/11. Conspiracy theory much. These aren’t so much lies, though. People believe them to be true. And, people likewise called Bush a nazi, facist, said he wanted to take away their stem cells, that he would raise taxes for everyone but the rich. Obama has, notably, raised taxes for everyone with cap and trade and increase cigarette taxing (which disproportionately effects the poor).
Anyway, you’re really blind. All politicians lie. It’s what they do. If they move their lips, they’re probably lying. Obama too has broken huge numbers of his promises, particularly on national security where he’s basically keeping all of Bush’s policies. And, when you tell a lie, normally you don’t have to construct a web of lies. Politicians just say “I did not have sex with that woman” And either they did or they didn’t.
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