One of the longstanding themes of this blog is the astonishing mendacity of the Republican Party, how out of balance that mendacity is within the current political discourse (I mean, damn, we expect politicians to lie, but these guys never stop) and the media's complicity in laundering those lies. This cycle, there has been some effort to point out the lies, misstatements and inconsistencies -- at least in reporting on the results of factchecking organizations or giving your own factcheckers a highlighted role in a reporting package. Lies aren't often named as such -- you get lots of euphemisms, especially from the fact checking organizations who don't want to be seen using the apparently more emotionally charged word -- lie. I wondered if the cumulative effects of the factchecking, a tough primary which featured Republicans calling each other liars, Democratic efforts to sow doubts and Rmoney's persistently low ratings for honesty were starting to take a toll when I saw
this piece from TPM on Tuesday