Lies, accusations, deflections and truth

By Dan Barber
 

White House defends U.S. VA secretary after false statement

Politicians and journalists have a tough time with lying. Why can't they just admit they lied when caught? Dishonesty is a personal character flaw that indicates people may not be able to trust the inflicted individual. A misstatement is a spoken typo... a false statement is a lie.

Scott Walker’s insidious agnosticism

How you can tell when a news media organization is losing its grip on reality?

When they continue to beat a “dead horse.”

Dana Milbank writes... “I don’t know.” Thus proclaimed Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor and Republican presidential hopeful, when asked by The Post’s Dan Balz and Robert Costa on Saturday whether President Obama is a Christian."

Milbank went on to explain that Walker's lack of knowledge of Obama's religious beliefs give cause to shut down debate on what Walker knows about our President and to label Walker with all sorts of insidious titles. Milbank writes, “This is an intriguing standard. I’ve never had a conversation with Walker about whether he’s a cannibal, a eunuch, a sleeper cell for the Islamic State, a sufferer of irritable bowel syndrome or a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. By Walker’s logic, it would be fair for me to let stand the possibility that he just might be any of those — simply because I have no personal and direct refutation from him.”

What are you trying to do Milbank, mislead or manipulate voters/readers of your newspaper or provide a journalism 101 lecture on how to ask misleading questions?

Kerry picks Foreign Service officer to be State’s first special envoy for gay rights

Our current administration and state department can't prevent an out of control religious sect (Islamic terrorists) from taking over most of the Middle East through mass butchery of people. What are the odds of an LGBT special envoy of successfully pushing a gay rights agenda upon any foreign country? This leads me to believe that Obama and Kerry are not only afraid of offending peaceful Muslims, but they can also be easily frightened by any loud noise from just about any special interest group.

This is the business presidential candidates have chosen

I have often wondered why anyone would want to become President of the United States. This article explains the "side shows" of how media behavior shapes the communications. Sometimes that behavior can disingenuously mislead the public. Politicians count on public relations people to manipulate or promote a message to a selected audience. What "the base" sees or hears may be understood entirely differently in another group. It's the journalist's job to objectively report facts. If the journalist is a member of the candidates "base" and cannot identify their own political leanings and overcome their biases to do an honest job they then need to find another job.