Politicians and political parties that smear and lie about others find themselves in a dilemma that begins with the fact that there doesn’t seem to be much electoral punishment for lying.
Why Politicians Lie
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The TMI Show" talk show. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Re “there doesn’t seem to be much electoral punishment for lying”: A class class action case was brought against the DNC for its alleged swindling of Bernie Sanders in the 2016 campaign to choose its candidate for that year’s presidential election.
The suit, unsurprisingly, was eventually dismissed but not before quite a bit of legal wrangling established the DNCs position, essentially: “we are a private organization and, thus, have no obligation to adhere to the rules we have voluntarily applied to ourselves … and made public.”
Although this was hardly the clinching argument for dismissal, the process was valuable in providing another glimpse into the arrogance of the DNC and its highly consistent, if treacherous, and total, contempt for its voting base.
It’s not clear how far arguments, successful in dismissal of a given case, remain a part of “case law,” but I am sure the DNC can be relied upon, in the future, to spew forth atrocities aplenty that spur more requests for court relief … providing the party somehow avoids collapsing into its own feckless vacuity.
“The other party”? Someone’s gotten into the Christmas punch a bit prematurely.
Remember the scene in the episode of “The Simpsons” where they tour the Duff factory and all the beer going into three different product vats is coming out of only one central pipe?
The Republicans blow up people. Bad. The democrats do it? See, it’s complicated.
Trump plays with crypto and makes a fortune. bad. Nancy Pelosi realizes a 15,000% return on investment in her stock market trades while in Congress? See, it’s complicated.
Let’s go to the close-up of Donald Trump’s puffy hand with the bruising. A-ha! He’s senile. Impeach him instantly! We need to discuss this!
What’s that? Joe Biden’s showing cognitive decline? Oh, you’re making a mountain out of a molehill. The people who have the most to lose from him leaving office swear he’s running marathons while solving Rubik’s Cubes and dictating his memoirs in Urdu.
What’s that? Trump got rid of the penny? Okay, that one actually makes some sort of cents (get it?). But it’s Trump, so boooooo!
What’s that? It turns out Biden’s “team” did lie to the American people and possibly commit crimes that would qualify as treason if investigated? Nuh-uh.
Only a little more than three years to go.
@alex_the_tired it sounds like you are listening to Democratic extremists but no one else. You can hear the exact opposite if you listen to only Republican extremists. Personally, I try to avoid all these extremists..
We regular folks want to stop the robbing of the treasury regardless of the offender. We regular folks do have strong opinions about what Trump and Biden are doing and try very hard to fix those, but fighting them politically is not the same as calling them mentally incompetent.