Posts Tagged ‘lying’
July 20, 2012
Romney is at it again, doctoring what Obama said, and saying that the doctored version shows that Obama doesn’t understand or believe in America. Sadly a lot of people have bought Romney’s falsification.
Here’s what Obama said in Roanoke, Virginia on July 13:
“If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something: There are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”
The Romney commercial doctored the quote, dropping all but the underlined part, to change Obama’s meaning (more…)
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Tags:Charles Krauthammer, commercial, doctored quotes, ethics, lying, Obama, Roanoke, Romney, success, who built your business
Posted in Ethics-general, Lying, Politics | Leave a Comment »
February 3, 2012
Mitt Romney said he’s not concerned about the very poor because they have a safety net. And if the safety net needs repair he’ll fix it.
This proves he doesn’t care. If he thinks the safety net is OK he’s out of touch, and his out-of-touchness proves his lack of concern.
The safety net leaves millions of minimum- or low-wage earners without enough to feed, clothe, and shelter their families, leaves them dependent on emergency room visits for any medical care, and—if they’ve been unemployed for a long time—facing termination of their unemployment checks. And candidate Romney, along with nearly unanimous Republican Senators and members of Congress, are reflexively opposed to “fixing” the safety net.
But appearing so heartless can be costly to a Presidential candidate. So Romney tried to lie his way out of it, saying he misspoke. But he didn’t misspeak. Misspeaking is when I call my granddaughter by her sister’s name. Misspeaking is when John McCain tells a Romney gathering that he’s confident that President Obama will cure the nation’s ills. Misspeaking is not saying something, then when challenged explaining what you said. He didn’t misspeak.
The interview that got Romney into this mess went like this:
The candidate told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on Wednesday that he’s “not concerned about the very poor,” explaining that he’s concerned about the middle class (more…)
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Tags:CNN, compassion, ethics, Jon Ralston, lying, Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, middle class, misspoke, Mitt Romney, pants on fire, poor people, safety net, Soledad O'Brien, very poor
Posted in Apologies, Ethics-general, Government, hypocrisy, Politics | 1 Comment »
June 9, 2011
If you’re a Democrat and you want an ethics pass, go see Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Today she discussed the Anthony Weiner mess with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. Her analysis:
“It’s hard to see what the [House] Ethics Committee would hang its hat on here to say that this conduct would violate the ethics rules. Others have said maybe it’s the lying. What! So no politician has ever lied to us before? That’s the kind of thing we see all the time. So he did behave discreditably (!!) but I don’t think it’s enough for a full fledged ethics censure. David Vitter is still there.”
I wonder what kind of behavior Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington would consider irresponsible or unethical.
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Tags:Anthony Weiner, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW, David Vitter, ethics, House Ethics Committee, Lawrence O’Donnell, lying, Melanie Sloan
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Media | 1 Comment »
June 6, 2011
At a circus of a press conference, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) admitted tweeting a photo of his brief-covered crotch to a 21-year old college student, then panicking and lying to cover it up. What ethics rule did Weiner break?
The Golden Rule, for one. He hurt a lot of people, starting with his wife, his loyal Congressional staff, the people who believed in him, and apparently, even Andrew Breitbart, the scurrilous right wing defamer and doctorer of videos.
The nearly universal rule against lying, for another. If we lie to each other society crumbles.
The rule that says do what’s expected of you. The voters who sent Weiner to Congress expected –reasonably—different of him.
In addition to the ethics violations Weiner violated the First Law of Washington Scandal: the cover-up is worse than the crime. In this respect he is forcing his admirers (including me, as of last week) to question his sanity: What in the world was he thinking when he made up those pathetically lame, unbelievable lies. Nobody, no matter their politics, not even Chris Mathews, believed he was telling the truth.
To Weiner’s credit, and there’s not much in this to his credit, he set the standard for apologizing. No “I’m sorry if you thought…” or “I was under the influence of a new allergy prescription,” or (more…)
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Tags:Andrew Breitbart, Anthony Weiner, Apologies, Chris Matthews, cover-up, crotch photo, ethics, Golden Rule, House Ethics Committee, lying, Nancy Pelosi, tweeting
Posted in Apologies, Ethics-general, Government, Media, Politics | Leave a Comment »
June 30, 2010
Apologies fall into three categories. Category 1 is the defiant apology: “I’m sorry if you think I did something wrong.”
Category 2 is the evasive apology: “I may have made an innocent mistake, and I’m sorry for it—if I actually did it.”
And there’s Category 3, the apology that’s so rare in politics it doesn’t yet have a name: “I did something wrong, and I’m sorry for it.” This used to be just called an apology, but the other types of apology make the old name inadequate. Just as technology made us replace “phone” with “dial phone,” and mail with “snail mail,” politics makes us put an adjective in front of “apology.” Call it the real apology.
Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk of Illinois had a lot to apologize for. A month ago he apologized to the Chicago Tribune for a pile of whoppers about his 21-year record as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer: He had not come under fire in Iraq as claimed; had not participated in Operation Desert Storm; had not won the Navy’s award for intelligence officer of the year; had not commanded the Pentagon war room, and had not served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
His apology was Category 2: “I am sorry, absolutely. You should speak with utter precision. You should stand on the documented military record. In public discourse, for high office, you should make sure that there is a degree of complete rigorous precession.” (more…)
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Tags:Alexi Giannoulias, Apologies, apology, Chicago Tribune, Connecticut Senate race, Illinois Senate race, intelligence officer of the year, lying, Mark Kirk, Richard Blumenthal, Vietnam
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics | Leave a Comment »
May 23, 2010
Connecticut Democrats took a stand Friday: they nominated Attorney General Richard Blumenthal by voice vote as their candidate for the U. S. Senate. Lying about having served in Vietnam. No problem.
Is Blumenthal sorry? Not on your life. Instead of apologizing he said, “I may have misspoken—I did misspeak on a few occasions out of hundreds, and I will not allow anyone to take a few of those misplaced words and impugn my record of service.”
Misspoken? Misspeaking is calling one grandchild by another grandchild’s name. Misspeaking is saying 2009 when you mean 2010. Misspeaking is NOT saying he served in Vietnam when he didn’t, or saying “When we came back, we were spat on; we couldn’t wear our uniforms.” Those are lies.
Not a big problem for his party, however. From White House spokesman Robert Gibbs:
“I have not heard anything from the (White House) political shop that would lead me to believe anything other than our continued support.” (more…)
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Tags:Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut, Democratic National Committee, Democrats, Linda McMahon, lying, misspeak, misspoken, Robert Gibbs, Robert Menendez, Robert Zimmerman, Senate, Vietnam, White House, World Wrestling Entertainment
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics | 11 Comments »
May 18, 2010
The Democrats had the Connecticut Senate seat sewed up, the one being vacated by Chris Dodd. Nate Silver’s authoritative website, http://fivethirtyeight.com, rated the seat at greater than 95 percent likely to remain Democratic. Until this morning’s New York Times ran a front-page piece headlined, “Candidate’s Words on Vietnam Service Differ From History.”
And how!
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Democratic candidate, has been running 13-25 points ahead of possible Republican opponents. But he’s been claiming that he served in Vietnam, and that, “When we came back, we were spat on; we couldn’t wear our uniforms.” But Blumenthal never served in Vietnam. He got five deferments from the draft, and when they ran out he did the only thing that would save him from having to go to Vietnam: he joined the Marine Corps Reserve, where his most intense action was the Christmas time Toys for Tots” program. (more…)
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Tags:Bill Curry, Chris Dodd, Connecticut, Connecticut Attorney General, deferments, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democrats, Eric Schultz, ethics, fivethirtyeight.com, Harvard swim team, Linda McMahon, lying, Marine Corps Reserve, McMahon campaign, misspeak, Nate Silver, New York Times, Richard Blumenthal, Senate, Toys for Tots, veracity, Vietnam, WWE
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics | 8 Comments »
April 19, 2010
Sport builds character. So we say, and we stick to the idea even as our favorite slugger takes illegal performance-enhancing drugs and lies about it, and our favorite football coach grins while his players taunt an outmatched opponent. But there are people of character in sport. Today’s ethical sportsman is English golfer Brian Davis, who called a two-stroke penalty on himself that ended his chance to win the Verizon-Heritage golf tournament. Davis’s violation was to barely—imperceptibly to anyone else—nudge a reed that overhung his ball in a sandy hazard. Davis finished second, and earned $411,000 less than Jim Furyk, the winner. There’s an excellent report of the incident in The New York Times.
Golfers tend to downplay their ethical behavior, shrugging it off as part of the game. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were part of all games!
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Tags:Brian Davis, character, Jim Furyk, lying, performance-enhancing drugs, Sport, taunting, The New York Times., Verizon-Heritage tournament
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | Leave a Comment »
Romney is at it again, doctoring what Obama said, and saying that the doctored version shows that Obama doesn’t understand or believe in America. Sadly a lot of people have bought Romney’s falsification.
Ethics Bob 