Tell Me Lies, Sweet Little Lies

It is human nature to lie. A “white lie” can make an uncomfortable situation more comfortable. When your Dad asks if you and your boyfriend slept in separate rooms while going on Spring Break in Cancun and you say, “Why of course!” Or when you were five and your mother asks if you made your bed, you say “But, yes!” and then run back to your room before she checks.

Lies are used on a daily basis to avoid punishment, embarrassment, or to make something appear to be what it is not. Sometimes we get away with those lies. In the case of more serious lies, however, we often do not.

For instance with the Bush Administration. News came out today that they made 935 false statements about the War in Iraq. Now that is truly absurd.

“The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both. “

Wow. I’m not even mad. Just impressed that they tried to pull off that much lying and not get caught. Here are the top offender, according to Center for Public Integrity, a well-known left funded foundation:

The Most Notorious Liar: President Bush - 259 falsities

• 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
• 28 about Iraq’s links to al-Qaida

Slimy Lying Side Kick: Secretary of State Colin Powell - 254

• 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
• 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida

Now it is a cardinal rule in journalism that you can’t call someone a liar when writing an objective reporting piece. It just makes the journalist look bad and doesn’t prove anything. But when a random study comes out calling out your favorite politicians for their two-timing statements, then you lucky journalist, get to report on lies for once, as truths.

Update: The truth still remains to be told about just how much lying has really gone on during the Bush Administration. The report that was used to tally these falsities was funded by The Center for Public Integrity, a notably leftist organization with an ax to grind. Tobin Harshaw of the New York Times comes to the defense of the Bush Administration (please take jaw off table) and basically calls the report a pile of bull.

He says:

“The Center for Public Integrity hardly qualifies as “independent”. It gets much of its funding from George Soros, who has thrown millions of dollars behind Democratic political candidates, and explicitly campaigned to defeat George Bush in 2004 … In fact, there is nothing new in this site that hasn’t already been picked apart by the blogosphere, and some of it discredited. It includes the debunked charge that Bush lied in the “sixteen words” of the 2003 State of the Union address. Joe Wilson’s own report to the CIA and to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence confirmed that, at least according to Niger’s Prime Minister, Iraq had sought to trade for uranium in 1999. The CPI site has the sixteen words posted as one of their false statements.”