Our congenitally mendacious politicians

Andrew Coyne points out a depressing truth:

...Most people in politics are decent, honest people, we are told time and again: Only populist yobs and voters would think otherwise. So when we are confronted with evidence to the contrary, a Dalton McGuinty here, a Glen Clark there, a Brian Mulroney or a Jean Chretien or a Paul Martin in between, these are to be taken as, well, anomalies.

Only they aren't the exception, they're the rule. The outright, bold-faced, directly-contradicted-by-the-facts nose-stretcher is distinguished only by its clumsiness: a lie so obvious that even a politician can't get away with it. But in fact most politicians dissemble, in large ways or small, most of the time. Virtually every line they utter from morning to night contains at least some degree of falsehood. Only we, like they, are so inured to it that we no longer notice it. Or else we roll our eyes and say, "that's politics."..

Mark C.

Posted by markc at September 27, 2006 04:26 PM