CAMPAIGNING IN WONDERLAND….Yesterday — or was it the day before? It’s getting hard to keep track — Sarah Palin told a fib about the teleprompter breaking down during her acceptance speech. Megan McArdle comments:
What I don’t get about this lie is the pointlessness. I expect politicians to lie. But I expect them to tell the standard sort of lies about how they will give us all $5 solar cars by 2010, and never, ever sleep with their staff. This seems like some sort of bizarre compulsive disorder.
There was a period during Bush’s first term when his administration acted the same way. I don’t mean the big lies, I mean the drumbeat of minor misrepresentations about almost everything. I remember there were times when I’d listen to something one of them said and think, the truth would have actually served them better. But for some reason they made up a less effective lie instead. It was like a reflex with them.
The same thing is starting to happen with the McCain campaign. Most of his lies are easy to understand. But now they’ve drifted into this kind of pointless stuff that doesn’t even seem to provide any real benefit. I guess they’re just creating their own reality.
