Tag: lies
Surprise! Sessions Lied!
As children most of us learned that the two hardest things about telling lies is 1) remembering exactly what you told to whom and when, and 2) the potential of someone telling on you. U.S. Attorney general Jeff Sessions is finding out that both pitfalls amount to a “gotcha” following his sworn testimony Tuesday before the Senate.
Sessions rendered the first potential pitfall moot by having a case of amnesia so bad it would embarrass a soap opera star. He also pulled his Southern gentleman and respect for the norms of the Justice Department act (because we’ve seen how the Trump administration and the McConnell Senate uphold longstanding traditions and norms) to stonewall his way through his testimony.
But it appears that Sessions has been tripped up by number two. Or maybe it was a combination of forgetting that he invited Richard Burt, a lobbyist for Russia, to dinner — twice! — and then counting on said lobbyist to keep his mouth shut about it. In Alabama I believe they pronounce it puhjuhray, Mr. AG.
The Guardian has the full story here.
An Expert’s Analysis of On-Air Lying
“You can turn on the TV — more than you can read in the paper because I assume editors are still doing their jobs in most places — and people literally say things that just aren’t true.”
— Kellyanne Conway, quoted by Elle, as the audience at the Newseum burst into laughter.
Majority Think Sessions Lied
52%
A new Quinnipiac poll finds 52% of American voters say that Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearings and 51% think he should resign. In addition, 61% are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about President Trump’s relationship with Russia.
Trump Lies More than Any Other Candidate — Ever
65%
Of what Donald Trump says is lying, according to the Washington Post: “There’s never been a presidential candidate like Donald Trump — someone so cavalier about the facts and so unwilling to ever admit error, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. At last count, nearly 65 percent (17 of 27) of our rulings of his statements turned out to be Four Pinocchios, our worst rating. By contrast, most politicians tend to earn Four Pinocchios 10 to 20 percent of the time. (Moreover, most of the remaining ratings for Trump are Three Pinocchios.)”
A Growing Tolerance for Lying
There’s a good chance that if you’re reading this you don’t believe it. … It hasn’t exactly been a banner year for truth-telling in the 2016 election, with flubs, rumors, misleading stats and flat-out falsehoods uttered on the campaign trail and ping-ponged around the social media universe with regularity. But in many cases, furious fact-checking from the mainstream media has not only failed to prompt solemn apologies from the worst offenders — it’s made them stronger.
— Carrie Dann, NBC News
Lies, Damned Lies and Trump/Carson Lies
When Hillary Clinton lies, she generally does so with legalistic care. You get the sense that she knows what the exact truth is. But you also get the sense that she knows she’ll suffer if she provides the whole truth, so she shades the facts with interpretations and embellishments that flatter or favor her. … Trump’s and Carson’s lies, on the other hand, come from the land of bullshit, that wonderful place where loose facts and wishful thinking mate to produce a quotable soundbite. They’re not trying to deceive you in a Clintonian fashion. They’re indifferent to the truth, content to say the first things that pop into their brains.
— Politico
Williams ‘Embellished’ 11 Times
11
“A months-long internal investigation of Brian Williams by NBC News has turned up 11 instances in which the anchorman publicly embellished details of his reporting exploits, according to a person familiar with details of the probe,” the Washington Post reports.
That Lying O’Reilly
O’Reilly was there with John Wilkes Booth.
He watched them kill George Patton, forsooth!
Bill can tell a story
That covers him in glory,
But what he can’t do is simply tell the truth.
