Don't Elect Liars

It has been almost amusing to listen to reporters from venues as diverse as NPR and CNN acting surprised that Sarah Palin continues each day to repeat the same lie ("I said to Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks'. If we want that bridge we'll build it ourselves.")

But these are today's Republicans. Because the press has repeatedly confirmed that the statement is untrue (some have even used the "l" word!), they seem to expect Palin to do what past spinners have done: use different phrasing, tighten the boundaries, do something to create some wiggle room for herself instead of continuing to repeat bald-faced lies.

But not these Republicans. These Republicans have figured out that they can completely subvert the traditional power of the press by just going around them. They have figured out that at long as they have powerful enough marketing and enough corresponding echo chambers to amplify the message, it doesn't matter if the entire message is built on lies. They have been perfecting this for at least 20 years and the Iraq war is only the bloodiest consequence so far.

Hunter at DKos is one of my favorite writers on the web. Always spot-on; always insightful. You should read the whole thing, but here is a taste.

For Republicans, there is no longer any moral taboo whatsoever against lying outright. The only relevant question is whether the lie is effective -- not whether it should have been done in the first place.

[snip]

So what of it, if Sarah Palin says crooked things with a straight face? Name me one Republican who will object. Name me one -- just ONE -- diehard conservative who will be angry at the lie, instead of praising her for it. To hell with facts, there is another election to be won.

This is why I consider the Republican Party to be, at this point, a wrecked party. There is no self-consistent philosophy other than the acquisition and protection of their own power: there are certainly no moral or ethical boundaries that the party will internally enforce. … You can lie, you can staff your government with morons and ideologues, you can give a speech saying one thing while doing the exact opposite (a Bush specialty, in his State of the Union speeches.) We bemoan constantly the Democrats' failure to keep a unified front, in order to pass a more meaningful agenda -- but you would be hard pressed to find even a single, lone Republican in Washington willing to buck the moral collapse of their own party. Such people once existed: they were voted out of office.

Don't elect liars.