To Tell the Truth

From the Editorial Page of the Richmond Times-Dispatch comes "Pants on Fire," a short piece that notes a consistent problem with what comes out of the Bush White House labeled as "truth."

"President Bush condemned the Valerie Plame leak, vowed to get to the bottom of the story, and indicated he would fire any staff members involved in the affair. Columnist Robert Novak says he believes Bush knows the source of the leak; Scooter Libby, who has been indicted in the case, reportedly has testified that higher ups told him to spread the Plame stories. Libby was a ranking aide to Vice President Dick Cheney; officials higher than he inhabit the political stratosphere.

"After the catastrophe in New Orleans, the administration said it did not have timely notice that the levees had been breached. The latest information suggests the administration knew the dimensions of the crisis almost immediately after water began pouring out of Lake Pontchartrain.

"The White House says President Bush did not personally know Jack Abramoff. Abramoff says he and Bush met on several occasions. The President asked about the lobbyist's children and invited him to the Crawford ranch.

"Remember when Republicans and conservatives deplored the culture of deceit during the Clinton years?"

Yes, I do remember the year of huffing and puffing from the outraged GOP about Clinton White House deceit, dishonesty which constituted high crimes and whatnot. It was 1998. The Republicans' inquisitors tied up Bill Clinton, while the rest of the world went on with its business, anyway, with one problem -- defending himself from charges that he lied about a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Well, the heat didn’t bring out the best in Clinton. He was shown to be a flawed man whose integrity about his personal life was beneath the standards our society calls for, at least on the record, both in marriage and the workplace.

Now, once again it seems we have a sitting president who can’t tell the truth when the pressure is on -- George Bush. Fortunately, for all concerned, Dubya has only been disingenuous about trivial matters, such as those outlined above by the T-D's apt editorial comments.

Then there's the matter of the now-discredited pretext for the invasion of Iraq. But, not to worry, compared to hanky panky in the hallways of the White House, that's just another small matter.

It seems the modern Republican code of ethics allows for some deceit from public officials, just as long as it’s not about something truly important to the nation as a whole.

OK, I think I get it.