How long will we let them lie?

Do a lot of traveling and the USA Today newspaper attaches itself to your life. Given away free by most hotel chains, the often reviled “News McNuggets” is a surprisingly bi-partisan publication. Go figure. I have a new found respect for this paper because they seem to be solidly middle of the road.

USA Today’s coverage of the Vice Presidential Debate seemed fairly solid. They were willing to call the debate a basic draw, as did many other credible news organizations. But they went a bit further with an analysis of the many lies told by the Vice President. That’s right, lies. Intentional fallacies used in an attempt to both discredit his opponent and cover up his administration’s shameful record.

Once such lie was the bit about Edward’s Senate attendance record. Cheney puffed himself up about how he spends most Tuesday’s in the Senate Chamber in his role as president of the Senate…and then claimed that the debate was the first time that he has actually ever met John Edwards…clearly implying that Edwards never shows up for work. Cheney even went so far as to say that Edwards’ hometown newspaper had taken to calling him “Senator Gone”.

All untrue. All lies, according to USA Today. Yet Cheney delivered these untruths with such unwavering conviction that even John Edwards was stunned. I thought “geez, those were some pretty solid body shots” and I’m sure that Cheney’s supporters were beside themselves with glee. But USA Today checked the Congressional Record. They checked the “hometown” paper, they checked the facts. And the facts show that Cheney flat-out lied.

But the facts didn’t stop certain idiot/asshole TV talking heads from harping on it (http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/archive.html?blog=/politics/war_room/2004/10/07/hardball/index.html), just as they won’t stop a grip of blind Bush supporters from doing their best to re-elect the fool. But as some point, the American people are going to have to demand full accountability from their elected officials, especially from the Executive Branch. As it stands now, we can’t believe a word they say. How shameful is that?

More later…
Paul