Over the past few days the subject of truth and lies have come up in my conversations on the net, and in my professional life.
I find myself appreciating a comment Andrew Sullivan made in June of 2009:
A Clinton lie is "the typical political lie, the Clintonian parsing of truth or lying when the truth cannot easily be discovered"
A Palin lie is "categorically denying things that are categorically and patently and verifiably true....It is the statement that it is night when it is clearly, by universal agreement, three o'clock in the afternoon."
To the latter point Sullivan adds separately " People who lie like this are not politicians. They're sociopaths."
Now THERE is a thought....
I think it might be pertinent to point out another difference: Clinton lied about his sex life; Palin and other Republicans lie every day about issues vital to the welfare of their country.
ReplyDeleteJust a little bit of difference there.
I understand and agree with your remark in this context, Green Eagle (and thanks for stopping by, as always).
ReplyDeleteHowever...
Palin is an irredeemable bimbo diva who'd be out of her depth in a car park puddle.
There's not much to regret there. She's a lost cause.
But Clinton is another matter.
It's not just the deception of the Clinton lie per se but the consequences thereof to the things that Clinton stood for... that matter.
I don't care if he had a blowjob on the side. It's between him, her and his wife. I care that the laxity in judgment and truth had political consequences.
Yes the Republicans used all that but, hey, "you're meant to be smart, Bill". A fundamental maxim of fighting is you don't give your enemy something to hit you with.
Do we ask ourselves "what if none of that (with Lewinsky) had happened... would Gore have not only won the election, but won it by enough for it not to have been stolen from him? Would the Bush Cheney administration and all it's destructive consequences have never happened?"
Might we even dare ask:"could 9/11 have been headed off altogether - by a more competent and less feckless administration than the Bush and Cheney show?"
A long bow to draw, I admit.
I hope Bill gets over his surgery and returns to working for some of the very worthy causes he pursues... but I wonder if he ever wakes up in the dead of night, cold at the very thought of what might have been, if he - Bill - hadn't made it all unhappen.
I bet Al does.