Lordie, skewer me blue for believing that lying to congress under oath about, well, anything and everything, but in this case about the indisputible firing of several USA's because they wouldn't take part in the president's obvious and deliberate attempt to violate his oath of office, was illegal. How Fonz-goes-waterskiing-like of me to take these USA's word over that of an admitted torture supporter. Oh, and those documents...

If you're going to lie, dude, at least make it interesting.

Just minutes ago I posted the following comment on DailyKos in a diary by David Sirota on Frank Luntz's recent admission that he's a professional liar:

I just watched Chris Jansing on MSNBC repeat the oft-repeated assertion that Rudy Giuliani "brought the country together after 9/11", essentially accepting the premise of this rediculous and demonstrably false claim without even the appearance of doubt.

I.e. everyone says it's true, so therefore it must be true. Or, perhaps, everyone believes or wants to believe it to be true, so therefore it must be true.

This is how lies take on the appearance of truth, by being repeated over and over by a variety of people in positions of authority who have the public's trust, until everyone assumes it must be true because why would all these people say lie?

This is, of course, what BushCo is now doing with the Iraq bill, falsely claiming that:

--Dems don't support the troops

--Dems are for defeat in Iraq

--Victory is still possible or even meaningful

--The surge is working

--The war is necessary to defend US national security

--Dems are opposing the war for purely political reasons

--Etc., etc., etc.

And they've got plenty of good friends in the MSM to help them do this, some doing do willingly and enthusiastically, some opportunistically, and some out of sheer stupidity and laziness. We all know who they are. Apparantly, the public's starting to realize this too.

The thing is, even the most powerful lies have a way of coming undone when continually challenged and undermined by harsh reality. So let them keep on lying. At a certain point--and we're just about there--they will be revealed to be nothing more than massive lies that comprise the ENTIRETY of this administration's "substance", and start backfiring on it.

Versailles is falling down, and they're all holing up in the Hall of Mirrors.

The Bush administration, the modern GOP and broader conservative movement, and the various powers and forces that support and work with them--e.g. the MSM, the religious right, major corporations, the NRA, etc.--are fundamentally and necessarily based upon what can honestly only be called a foundation of lies so massive and pervasive as to be astounding in their scope, number and severity.

We're talking flat-earth here, not little white lies whispered here and there to help support otherwise solid agendas. I do not believe that these "journalists" were artfully duped. I think that they mostly knew they were being lied to and decided to go along with these lies, be it out of ideological alignment, career opportunism, fear of retaliation and/or career impact, or blind submission to their bosses' agendas and directives.

They went along with the lies, and for the most part they knew it. The MSM didn't suddenly become stupid overnight. It caved in to and/or willingly cooperated with the massive regime of lies that was and still is the Bush administration and modern GOP. And they fully deserve to be called out and held accountable for their willful, knowing and all too often eager and enthusiastic complicity in this crime against the country and world.

The media urgently and desperately needs some serious self-examination and house cleaning. Judy Miller should not be the sole sacrificial wolf. Others need to join her--asap.

I get the feeling that Olbermann is like his colleague "Average" Joe Scarborough: Very adept at seeing which way the wind is blowing and capitalizing on America's sudden leftward hiccup.

I strongly disagree. While I could certainly do without the portions of Countdown devoted to entertainment "news" and other adolescent trivia, as well as some of the guests he regularly has on his show, he has been passionate and relentless in his uncovering of BushCo lies, crimes, corruption and incompetence. Not perfect, but vastly more credible on this than anyone else on TV that I know of.

And let's not forget his Special Comments, which pretty much sealed his reputation as a credible observer of today's political scene for me and many, many others.

But if you think I'm wrong, please provide me with evidence that he's ever meaningfully and knowingly lied or misrepresented the truth and which he didn't later retract and apologize for--especially if it helped BushCo or anyone on the right. You are obliged to do so to back up your assertions, for which I find absolutely no credible evidence myself.