The Republican Party Has Institutionalized Dishonesty

Politicians lie. We all know this. There are lies of omission and lies of commission and lies that are the result of willful ignorance and lies that are the result of simple ignorance in its purest form. But only one party has institutionalized dishonesty, and that is the Republican Party.

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They have lied about everything, from Obamacare to Benghazi to the economy, like these,

And of course, this one:

No single article can list every Republican lie, so I will use pictures as well as words here, both in the interest of space and because some people remember better what they say, rather than what they read. Images can be powerful.

Republicans who pass this around…

ignore this…

and this…

and worst of all, this…

The Miami Herald reported during Election Day 2012 that,

“The numbers in Florida show this was winnable,” Brett Doster, Florida advisor for Romney, said in a statement. “We thought based on our polling and range of organization that we had done what we needed to win. Obviously, we didn’t, and for that I and every other operative in Florida has a sick feeling that we left something on the table…”

“Something left on the table…Yes, that would be the truth.

If you will remember, Mitt lied so often about everything that nobody had any clear idea hat he really thought about anything. Yet he felt he had a reasonable expectation to win. On any important issue, you could find video of Mitt saying both “yes” and “no.”

Mitt flip-flopped. He made up for this by lying about flip-flopping.

And Republicans obviously think that’s okay, as the recent bruhaha over the prisoner exchange that returned Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to his family:

Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) flip-flopped.

Republicans deleted comments they made previously in support of freeing Bergdahl so that they can accuse Obama of doing what they had previously supported

They claim Obama did not discuss the exchange with them but it turns out Obama did discuss it with them as far back as 2011

And they are sure as shooting not going to bring up the 500+ GItmo prisoners released by President George W. Bush. For the math challenged, that’s 100 x as many prisoners as Obama exchanged for Bergdahl

The Cuban anarchist, Ted Cruz, falsely claimed until Obama no American president had ever negotiated with terrorists

Sarah Palin condemned Obama’s action yet in 2008 prayed for his release.

Well, Obama answered her prayers.

John McCain flip-flopped: he was for a prisoner swap and then suddenly against it. And not only did he flip-flop, but he then lied about having flip-flopped.

And perhaps the most egregious example of dishonesty and hypocrisy comes from Oliver North. North, deeply involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and convicted on multiple counts after engaging in trading 2000 missiles to Iran in exchange for seven Americans being held in Lebanon, then gave the money from that missile sale to Iran Contra death squads…well, let’s just let a photo do the talking:

Yet North had posted on Facebook in 2011,

Today, I received from the National League of POW/MIA Families, a “Never Forget Bracelet” emblazoned with the name of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. He was seized on June 30, 2009 in Afghanistan and is being held by the Haqqani Organization – a Taliban afilliated terrorist group – in northwest Pakistan. Sgt Bergdahl and his loved ones here at home deserve our prayers and encouragement until he is rescued or released. That’s what we do. We’re Americans.

“That’s what we do” – until a black president does it, apparently. And then, somehow, he gains the right to condemn President Obama.

Of course, the mainstream media is more than willing to let North get away with this without reminding viewers of Iran-Contra, but Jon Stewart was not. As Stewart put it, “You’re saying it now like it’s a bad thing.”

This dishonesty is nothing new. It has been written about before. Lindy West at Jezebel wrote about Paul Rayn National Convention Speech in Florida back in 201, observing that “the stuff in Ryan’s speech wasn’t true” and that “they’re not even subtle, carefully orchestrated lies, either. They’re obvious lies, debunkable by even the drunkest, most casual armchair wonk watching the speech.”

And nobody cared. If you care, here is Salon’s list of Ryan’s brazen lies that night.

You cannot no separate the GOP from lies, because without lies, as the picture worth 10,000 words says,

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.