A CNN article by John Blake three years ago, entitled “Of Course Presidents Lie”, pointed out that they all have, including Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and “Honest Abe” Lincoln.
Blake quoted Ed Uravic, a former Washington lobbyist, congressional chief of staff and author of “Lying Cheating Scum,” as saying “every president has not only lied at some time, but needs to lie to be effective.”
Blake goes on to differentiate between “forgivable lies” purposed to protect the nation from harm and unforgivable lies to cover up wrong doing.
Sometimes there’s probably a fine line between the two.
If being able to tell a lie is a prerequisite to being president, then Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are both hugely qualified in at least one category.
Neither will go down in history with George Washington’s reputation for veracity. By the way, Blake’s article claims that story about Washington confessing to cutting down the cherry tree never happened.
A syndicated column the other day described Clinton as a congenital liar, noting that congenital is defined as “having by nature a specified character.”
By his own admission the columnist Cal Thomas didn’t originate the description. He credited New York Times columnist William Safire with the diagnosis in a 1996 column when Hillary was first lady.
A few weeks ago another columnist described Trump as a pathological liar or someone who compulsively tells lies or fabricates information. Some pathological liars may not be completely rooted in reality, believing the lies they tell.
I don’t know whether either description is accurate regarding our two major party presidential candidates, but they seem close.
An article on the internet describes five types of liars, including:
• Sociopaths, defined as those who lie continuously in an attempt to get their own way, without showing care or concern for others. Sociopaths don’t have a lot of respect or regard for the feelings and rights of others. They tend to be charismatic and charming, but they will use their exceptional social skills in a self-centered and manipulative manner.
• Compulsive liars, defined as those who continually lie from sheer habit. Lying tends to be their normal manner of responding to any questions from others.
• Occasional liars are those who seldom tell a lie. When they do, they their guilt overcomes them. These individuals are quick to ask for forgiveness from the individual that they lied to.
• Careless liars will go about their normal lives and lie every way they can. They are not concerned about trying to hide their lies or making sure they make sense. Everyone knows that they aren’t being honest because they tend to be sloppy with their lies.
• White Liars are people who don’t usually think of themselves as true liars. They justify their white lies as harmless or even beneficial. They will sometimes tell only part of the truth, and not be suspected of lying at all. White liars may use their lies to shield someone from what they believe is a hurtful or damaging truth.
Where do Clinton and Trump fall? Somewhere in or between the first two categories, I suspect.
Another characteristic Clinton and Trump share is their lambasting of the media for not treating them fairly and not being harsh enough on their opponent.
I’m not here to defend the talking heads on CNN or Fox or whoever the “mainstream” media is.
But I am reminded of an incident that occurred in Mississippi in 1964.
A Mississippi native who was working as a journalist for a national publication was sent back to his native town to cover violence against civil rights workers in that locality.
When some acquaintances asked him, “Are you coming down here to write some more lies about us?”, he replied: “No, I’m going to do worse than that. I’m going to write the truth.”
Charles Dunagin is a retired editor and publisher who is currently residing in Oxford, Mississippi. He can be reached at cdunagin@enterprise-journal.com.
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