Here’s a headline from the Washington Post:

Maybe this was just tiredness on my part, but I read about half this piece thinking that Rampell was making some kind of policy critique of Republicans. It wasn’t until the second half, when her sarcasm became stronger, that I realized she was merely saying that Republicans are lying about nearly all their policies. I don’t know if the choice of “mischaracterizing” was hers or the copy desk’s, but it shows the danger of getting too fond of euphemisms. There’s a point at which it tiptoes around your meaning so much that readers have a hard time understanding you.

Anyway, yes: Republicans have systematically and obviously lied about the rationale for their tax cuts, their family separation policy, and their support for protection of pre-existing conditions. Why? That’s pretty obvious too: their real reasons are unpopular and, in some cases, loathsome. Of course they have to lie about them.

But if you just can’t bring yourself to use the word lying—either because of company policy or because you think it turns off too many readers—at least use something close:

  • deceiving
  • BSing
  • fabricating
  • faking
  • misleading
  • falsifying
  • fibbing

There are plenty of others. There’s really no reason to be coy about this anymore.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

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