2008 Campaign: Some media are aware of the lies

A stunning piece in TIME Magazine looks at the persistence of lying the presidential campaign, singling out Senator McCain for:

a ceaseless assault on his opponent's character and policies, featuring a consistent—and witting—disdain for the truth.

It's not as though the Democratic campaign and Senator Obama are innocent of the typical political monkeying with truth, but McCain has taken the lying to a new level by unreproachfully repeating falsehoods even when confronted with truth. 

John McCain has raised serious questions about whether he has the character to lead the nation. He has defaced his beloved military code of honor. He has run a dirty campaign.

Things you probably (don't) know

It's a new era in presidential campaigns: lie until you get caught...then lie some more. What might you believe if they stopped lying?

• Gov. Palin did support the bridge to nowhere, before the feds cut the funds.
• Barack Obama's economic plan will cut taxes for 95% of Americans. If you read are reading this blog, that's you.
• McCain's economic plan will not take money from public schools.
• McCain no longer says the economy is sound.

This takes me back to a FactCheck.org story I meant to blog about ages ago: when we hear lies about the candidates, they tend to stick, even after they've been debunked. Not only that, we may even attribute the falsehood to the debunker (e.g. I heard that on FactCheck.org!). Crazy.

Why David Brooks is a tool

I've never liked the guy, because he pretends to be a moderate but likes to pound on individual responsibility to the complete exclusion of cultural forces from corporations to consumerism.  This guy agrees, and he completely and thoroughly lays out the case why David Brooks is a tool.

A sample:

Brooks lies about how the [mortgage crisis and credit crisis] devastation occurred. An "unspoken code has been silently eroded, he reveals. Silently, David? Marketers of all kinds have spent billions for 40 years telling Americans they deserve a break today and that marketers from McDonald's and credit-card companies to mortgage lenders will give it to them instantly. This has been the most monumental, unrelenting campaign to destroy a culture the world has seen, barring perhaps the fascist and communist propaganda juggernauts of the 1930s. Our own governments are in on it, not just via de-regulation but with lotteries.

The Wonderful World of Cheney

With more fantasy than Walt could have every hoped for.

Bush is smart - he plays word games

President Bush may have been informed that Iran does not have an active nuclear weapons program, but that hasn't stopped him from insinuating one.

No nukes in Iran

In case you were being whisked away on President Bush's (In)credibility Express (next stop: Iran), check this out. The report from the combined intelligence agencies of the United States - the Intelligence Estimate - says that the 2005 report was in error and that Iran does not have an active nuclear weapons program.

No nukes, no troops.

Why is the lying man still in charge of the law?

That, and other fun questions from Jon Stewart and Company. Let's summit this mountain of obfuscation!

Bush lied

Putting these two words together seems to elude most major media outlets, even when the President ponies up. An excellent analysis of the media's pathetic revisionism shows that even when Bush admits he's a liar (having determined that Rumsfeld would in fact be resigning before the election while saying the exact opposite - a lie), the media like to give him the "benefit of the doubt." Folks, the doubt has run out. In fact, continuing to use these silly euphemisms like "untruth" is insulting. He's a liar.

Note: I didn't really closely enough to realize my friend at 28th Ave linked to the same analysis I just did. He's my source on the second link on newspeak.