pants on fire

I've been following the controversy regarding Hillary Clinton's imaginary exposure to sniper fire in Bosnia with a fair degree of bemusement. It's the latest tempest in a teapot in an election year driven by such ephemeral distractions. While I have no affection for Clinton as a politician, it seems that there are plenty of other substantive reasons to be troubled about her candidacy instead of harping over a standard bit of campaign trail Munchausenismo.

It's odd how the greater "we" have resigned ourselves to the fact that politicians are inveterate liars -- to the extent where this aspect of the vocation is accepted as a brute fact -- yet we still manage to conjure up some half-sincere shock and outrage whenever a petty falsehood is exposed. Big lies, on the other hand, dealing with issues of real importance and perpetrated by those who wield real power, tend to be swallowed with gusto and are seemingly unkillable, despite mountains of contrary evidence presented to dispel it.

Sexing up a story about a state visit in a campaign speech? The audacity of it! Using discredited evidence about WMD programs and links to terrorist organizations to stir up support for a disastrous war? Eh, it happens.

On a related note, I was impressed, even as I winced, with Obama's brief moment of candor that withdrawing troops from Iraq might be a more complicated process than anticipated, as he does not have access to the people and information needed to make a clear assessment of the situation at the present time. His campaign spokespeople have since downplayed that statement, so as not to alienate the bloc of anti-war voters (of which I am a unswerving member). When speaking of realities is unwelcome, it seems disingenuous to harp over distortions of the "truth," the quotation marks signifying the confirmation bias inherent in the term as presently understood.

So Hillary has her tale of high adventure in the Balkans, Obama his "I knew but I didn't hear" excuse about his pastor, and John McCain his story about Cuban torturers in the Hanoi Hilton (which could very well be on the level, but it seems like something lifted from a Chuck Norris film and rather conveniently appeals to an important voting bloc in a large swing state). These calculated pieces of window dressing provide ample opportunities to engage in petty sniping and childish taunts -- amplified and abetted by the mainstream media -- which have rendered the public political discourse at a level on par with a schoolyard dust-up. Substantial debate and well-considered policy positions are fine and all, but it's more entertaining (and sadly, more effective) to make fun of how much a rival candidate spent on a haircut.

One thing that I find interesting is that whenever a politician "misspeaks" about his or her personal accomplishments, the statments trend universally toward the positive, which is statistically unusual given the implied excuse of spontaneous, unconscious error. A candidate might "accidentally" tell a bogus story about the time they saved a litter of puppies and the Baby Jesus from a barn fire, but never one about the time they shanked a hobo for half a bottle of Thunderbird.

Funny, that.

The Castaways - Liar, Liar (from The Best of the Castaways, 1999) - Outstanding garage rock from the Twin Cities, this 1965 classic is a fine example of the stuff I used to look forward to hearing on the local oldies station...before its corporate programmers decided to quit trying and just pander to the blandest common denominator. Goodbye, wild organ riffs and falsetto vocals; hello, "Muskrat Love."

Sex Pistols - Liar (from Never Mind the Bollocks..., 1977) - I don't have to explain why I picked this track, do I? (If you answered "yes," there's a high probability you're reading the wrong music blog.)