Steve is right when he asks, "If you openly, repeatedly lie about little things, why should you be believed about bigger things?"
This was always one of the biggest criticisms against Al Gore - he consistently and habitually lied about a seemingly endless series of things. That undermined his credibility and was probably the single biggest cause for him losing the Presidential election. (I know, I know... but if Gore hadn't "lost" the debates, Florida would never have mattered.) Gore's falsehoods - and Bush's promises of truthfullness - mattered all the more because of Clinton's perjured testimony.
Now more than ever the President needs to shore up, not undermine, his credibility. I think there's less culpability in this one - he may not have said what he claims to during the campaign, but I'm fairly confident I remember him saying it in one of his addresses to Congress. He may even have discussed it in private during the campaign, rather than making any public statement (hence the Lindsey statement). Even so, as Steve calls it, a "little" lie, but an important one.
Bush needs to come clean now: admit that he never said it during the campaign - at least not on the record - and absolutely stop joking about it. We need leadership now, not shoulder-slapping.
Posted by wasylik at July 5, 2002 07:13 PM