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Sunday, August 22, 2004

A Lie is a Lie...by any other name?

2:35 PM

Perhaps it is a disease, a congenital affliction that naturally occurs upon prolonged contact with any member of the bush family. How else can we explain the peculiar behavior of those who have worked for America's most dangerously dysfunctional family?

Aaron Swartz: The Weblog has an excellent example of this phenomenon:

The Behavior Without A Name

In 1999, conservative pundit Tucker Carlson had an odd experience. He saw then-Governor Bush swear and wrote a piece that noted it. Karen Hughes, who Carlson had seen see Bush swear, responded by calling Carlson a liar.
so I called Karen and asked her why she was saying this, and she had this almost Orwellian rap that she laid on me about how things she'd heard--that I watched her hear--she in fact had never heard, and she'd never heard Bush use profanity ever. It was insane.

I've obviously been lied to a lot by campaign operatives, but the striking thing about the way she lied was she knew I knew she was lying, and she did it anyway. There is no word in English that captures that. It almost crosses over from bravado into mental illness.
It's now four years later, with another presidential campaign and new campaign staff, but the behavior remains the same. The other night on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Matthews showed a clip from his show. In it, he asks Kerry if he�s one of the anti-war candidates like Clark or Dean (as opposed to Lieberman or Gephardt). Kerry responds:
KERRY: I am--yes, in the sense that I don't believe the president took us to war as he should have.
Mathews showed an RNC promotional clip which edited the conversation down to this:
MATTHEWS: Are you one of the anti-war candidates?

KERRY: I am. Yes.
Then he showed a clip from a campaign speech where Bush said:
BUSH: And now almost two years after he voted for the war in Iraq, about 220 days after switching positions to declare himself the anti-war candidate, my opponent has found a new nuance.
The audience knew the Bush campaign was lying. Mathews knew the Bush campaign was lying. And Mathew Dowd, the Bush campaign representative on the show, knew the Bush campaign was lying. So what was his response? To just keep on lying:
DOWD: Yes. Senator Kerry said, yes, absolutely, he was the anti-war candidate. So yes, of course it's fair.
...
MATTHEWS: [I]s the president going to keep saying that something that was said on this show wasn't said?

DOWD: Of course he is. Why wouldn't he, it's what Senator Kerry said?
It's downright scary. I think it's time we got a name for this disturbing behavior.

Mr. Swartz then asks for suggestions, if you have any, go clickity click.

2:35 PM / Editor / permalink 2 comments

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2 Comments:

You simply must get a copy of the new book All the President's Spin, which focuses on how bush and his crew use lies and language to get away with things that wouldn't have been tolerated before. If you get me your new address, I'll send you a copy.

Your examples are depressing, but they only make me feel more helpless and hopeless -- when confronted with their wrongdoings, they simply deny them, no matter what the evidence. Day is night. Freedom is slavery.

I only worry that at this point, no one cares except the politically obsessed. We can point out the prevarications 'til the cows come home, but it scarcely matters. America is simply resigned now to an inherently and thoroughly dishonest government.

By richard, at 3:47 PM

Richard,

Evil can be beaten; we cannot despair, our task is too important. In the end, I believe enough Americans will see the bushies for what they are and send the bunch of them packing long enough for them to rebuild around Jeb, and then we will have to do it for a third time!

They are beyond contempt, but they are only one-term wonders because they only know how to attack, not govern.

Thank you, I was meaning to ask you to help me acquire a book or two. I will e-mail you our new address.

All the very best, my friend,

Joseph

By Joseph, at 4:36 PM