LIE OF THE WEEK: 07-27-2007

Former Senator John Edwards on "taking on special interests":

"It's time to restore fairness to a tax code that has been driven completely out of whack by the lobbyists in Washington, by the powerful interests in Washington and by those who value the few above the interests of many."

THE TRUTH: John Edwards started out poor and got rich as a trial lawyer by unfairly milking society's institutions for every insignificant grievance. He and those of ilk are the problem in America today. They are the lawyers and lobbyists who undeservedly influence all of Washington. They are the lawyers who sue everyone to reap huge amounts and benefit the few while the rest of America pays more to cover the costs of dealing with these cases and insure against them. To now claim that he is against special interests when those of his kind are the root cause of the problem proves that he is a hypocrite running on nothing but empty words.

COLUMN: 07-25-2007

The charges that Senator Hillary Clinton is making against Senator Barack Obama as being naive and inexperienced requires a look back at Senator Clinton's own history. After doing some law work on her own, including participating in the Watergate hearings, she married then-Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton. At that point, she took a back seat and went along for the ride as he became Governor of Arkansas and then President of the United States. Rather than actually showing any kind of spine and taking action as he repeatedly betrayed his marital fidelity, she simply stayed with him for her own benefit. She was probably worried about fading into political obscurity and so it made sense for her to put up with all of his bad behavior to continue to ride his coattails. After 8 years in the White House (and more infidelity), she used her long ride to jump into politics in the most cowardly way possible: rather than running to represent people who actually live somewhere near her (either in Arkansas or Illinois), she moved to New York to run as the extreme liberal that showed herself to be as First Lady. To claim this long history of tagging along and running for office where it was politically expedient as political experience while challenging the experience of Senator Obama, who actually worked his own way through the political ranks, is the perfect example of her lack of integrity.

LIE OF THE WEEK: 07-20-2007

Defense Undersecretary Eric Edelman on publicly discussing a withdrawal from Iraq:

“Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.”

THE TRUTH: This type of political smear is absolutely the lowest form of unpatriotic behavior. Associating the free speech of American citizens and political leaders in discussing a critical issue of public policy with enemy propaganda shows how little the current administration values actual American rights and values. This is especially ironic in that the spread of American values is their only remaining justification for the Iraq war, since all other justifications have fallen away after being proven to be untrue.

COLUMN: 07-18-2007

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a new record high of 14,000 this week is a clear indication of how the new global economy works. Whereas the American economy as seen by most Americans as very lackluster and the majority of the American people haven't seen any significant benefit from this "good" economy while their energy costs (among other things) have risen significantly, it is clear that we need to encourage some patriotic behavior from our corporate citizens to invest in their own country, rather than purely being interested in improving the bottom line by any means necessary. The previous statement should not be read as support for any kind of government intervention in the corporate world, but perhaps our corporate citizens would more keen to work for the betterment of America if they didn't have such easy control over the political process through our extremely broken system of campaign contributions.

LIE OF THE WEEK: 07-13-2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on grading the Iraqi government's efforts:

"I don't agree that you would give it (the al-Maliki government) a failing grade. You would say that it's a work in progress. You would say that they have not made inconsequential movement forward on some of the important benchmarks, particularly those involving security."

THE TRUTH: The Iraqi government is no more a work in progress than the Bush administration. Both have shown their true colors and it is right to judge them now rather than waiting for any arbitrary deadline. The Iraqi government has shown a willingness to let its sectarian majority overrule all else and has even let the extremists rule the day in terms of policy and in terms of allowing their militias to infiltrate and control government security services and the army. The Bush administration has shown themselves to be in denial about the realities they are facing and stubborn despite all of the facts and evidence indicating the severe failure of their government's policies on almost every front. It's time to let democracy rule the day and allow the will of the American people to override that of the political operatives who currently insulate the president in a bubble and do not allow the truth of current events to lead to better decision-making.

COLUMN: 07-11-2007

The announcement today that Al-Qaeda is at "pre-9/11" levels in terms of strength and capacity to attack is a direct indictment of the Bush administration's Iraq policy and there should be consequences for the criminal negligence that led us into this situation. It was very clear that certain members of the administration and their supporters in the media and various think tanks had an agenda against Iraq and they should be held accountable for putting the American people at an increased risk for attack. This is especially true since it is obvious that the Iraq campaign diverted resources from fighting Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and around the world, not to mention the fact that this entirely failed policy had led to an increase in support for terrorism around the world as people oppose our new American imperialism.

LIE OF THE WEEK: 07-06-2007

Senator Joe Biden on President Bush's decision to commute "Scooter" Libby's sentence:

“This guy is brain-dead,” Mr. Biden said. “I know I’ll be quoted, I’ll be killed for that. This is a guy who is on the balls of his heels,” he went on. “Here’s a guy who is lower off in the polls than any president in modern history, and he goes ahead and he does something that just flies in the face of the sensibilities of the American people.”

THE TRUTH: President Bush is not stupid. Saying that he is lets him off the hook for his corrupt actions and those of his administration. Senator Biden should know better than to make that mistake and he should also know better in terms of his lack of political will and courage. He (and most Democrats of his ilk, especially the Clintons) will sway in the wind to every poll to ensure electability and conducting government policies in this way is just as wrong as conducting them for any other politically-motivated reason.

COLUMN: 07-04-2007

President Bush is corrupt. There can be no other explanation for his rush to commute "Scooter" Libby's sentence when it became clear that he was going to jail. His justifications ("the sentence was too harsh") are nonsensical and have no basis in reality. He clearly does not believe in the rule of law when he essentially throws out the only meaningful part of the sentence for a man clearly guilty of the crime of perjury. (Mr. Libby is a wealthy man due to his political connections and can easily afford the large fine and being on probation is meaningless in these types of circumstances). The President and his inner political circle clearly value loyalty over all else, including honesty and integrity, which exactly fits the definition of corruption ("lacking in integrity"). This amount of corruption is the exact reason why Americans are turning to the Democrats. America is an overall conservative country, but will always choose to throw out corrupt officials, even if it results in a more liberal government.