Changing Meaning But Not Topics

It is common wisdom that politicians say one thing while meaning another or, as us laypeople call this practice, lie, but there are degrees of not telling the truth.

At the, we'll call it, honest end of the dishonesty spectrum, a candidate might leave out a few details or fail to offer information that isn't asked for.  Though this may be kind of like dealing with the Devil, it isn't an outright lie.  Immoral yes, but not a lie.  After exclusion, there is exaggeration, which most people do when relaying an anecdotal story about some adventure or trip they might have taken in the past.  This form of dishonesty comes in useful for tales where the story has ended with "You had to be there".  In these instances a lion, tiger or bear makes a great substitute for the rabbit that chased you after you wounded instead of killing it.  The basic story is real.  It's simply some of the details that are fuzzy . . . like the rabbit.

And then there are your whoppers where you've raced in the Indy 500 before heading over to France for the Tour and capped the week with an excursion to Australia to hang with the Aborigines in the Outback.  These are the stories that, even if true, no one would believe.  These are the stories where all credibility goes out the window and you find it harder to find someone willing to listen to your BS.  Lies have become a part of everyday life, which is a shame, because who can you trust when you can trust no one.

And now we get to the point of this post, which as I stated in the opening sentence is that our political leaders lie.  Some leave out facts to make their positions appear more appealing than they might otherwise appear.  Some stretch the truth to get the underlying point across to the audience and then there are others who simply tell lies, because it is the only way to get elected or trick voters into siding with them.  This is expected, but when you have a ticket running for President and Vice President that fit each of these categories, it might be prudent for the citizens to be a concerned.

So, let's see what lies the Romney/Ryan ticket have told and what has been the public's reaction to the misleading, deceitful and possibly harmful lies as well as the reactions from the candidates when called on them.

For more than a year now, Ryan has pushed his budget plan as a "Path to Prosperity", sighting all of these examples of fiscal responsibility and dates when the national budget would be balanced.  His tales of prosperity that are just a few decades away sound great.  His conclusion that Medicare will be stronger if only we limit the amount of the vouchers that the elderly will have to get insured under . . . Well, that sounds a little fishy, but maybe he's got something up his sleeve.  Wait, he hasn't run the numbers?  He actually said he 'hasn't run the numbers'?  This would be an example of leaving out information in order to make your position sound better.  To me it sounds like he's overstepped his claims of prosperity, especially when he attacks President Obama for his actual plan.  Like it or not, one of these plans is real, while the other is theoretical.

So far Ryan has claimed to have run a marathon faster than Sarah Palin, which he didn't.  He claims to have a body fat ratio that is on par with Olympic athletes, which is quite difficult to maintain and possibly dangerous.  So we've got the little white lie covered by Ryan.  If he can't remember his own personal history and is willing to risk his own health (according to Ryan), how can he be trusted to understand an entire country's history and health?  You see, we can all exaggerate, but of the ones listed in this paragraph, some can mean the difference between life and death, while others simply boost Ryan's ego.

And then there's Mitt Romney.  I can't even get into all of the outright lies he's told, but I will address one simple fact about the latest lie he's been caught in.  The lie where he claims implicitly that he hopes to represent the people of the United States, when he only intends to represent the Wealthy.  He lied, he got caught and that should be that, but it isn't.  In the few days in which this truth about Romney was exposed, several of the right have twisted what he meant by his claim that 47 % of Americans are free loading, self-pitying losers.  While some have embraced this claim, others have tried to say his message was about polling numbers and others still have tried to imply that he was merely showing concern for a nation that has become too dependent on handouts.  So, in the end, Romney's lies are covered up by other people's lies and the rest of us should still vote for this guy.

I say, if the Republicans best is Romney and all of his lies, then the RNC should close its doors and disband.