Lying about lying

Paul Krugman has come completely unhinged.

He writes an entire column accusing the McCain campaign of “out-and-out” lying while depending on his own untruths and distortions to make his point:

Take the case of the Bridge to Nowhere, discount viagra pharmacy which supposedly gives Ms. Palin credentials as a reformer. Well, cialis usa when campaigning for governor, Ms. Palin didn’t say “no thanks” — she was all for the bridge, even though it had already become a national scandal, insisting that she would “not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative.”

Oh, and when she finally did decide to cancel the project, she didn’t righteously reject a handout from Washington: she accepted the handout, but spent it on something else. You see, long before she decided to cancel the bridge, Congress had told Alaska that it could keep the federal money originally earmarked for that project and use it elsewhere.

You might have missed it, but right in the middle of his accusation he ADMITS that she said “no” to the Bridge to Nowhere.

Has the McCain campaign implied that she was more against it than she was?

Yes, I’d say that would be a fair characterization.

But to call Palin’s claim an outright lie is a lie in and of itself.

And then there’s the claim that Mr. Obama’s use of the ordinary metaphor “putting lipstick on a pig” was a sexist smear, and on and on.

I think too much has been made of this, but I do believe Senator Obama meant to conjure up Sarah Palin with that reference: from their reaction, his audience certainly seemed to think that was what he was getting at.

Has the McCain campaign pushed the truth a couple of times?

I think so. (Especially with McCain’s claim that Governor Palin sold Alaska’s private jet for a profit.)

But the truth is, the ugliest lies in this campaign have come from supporters of Senator Obama including:

1. Sarah Palin was her son’s grandmother, not his mother.
2. Sarah Palin cheated on her husband.
3. Sarah Palin said Iraq was a holy war.
4. Sarah Palin’s son had to join the military or go to jail
5. And Sara Palin has banned books, cut funding for special need’s kids, and wants Alaska to secede from the United States.

None of those things were true and I don’t hear Mr. Krugmen complaining about any of that.

12 comments September 12th, 2008