Stop Proving Mencken Right

"It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place."

"In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell."

-- H.L. Mencken
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Q: Do politicians lie?
A: Of course.

Q: Why do politicians lie, despite a near-unanimous longing for honest public officials?
A: Because lies work.

Obama has proposed eliminating income taxes on seniors making less than $50,000 a year, but 41 percent of those seniors say their income taxes would go up in an Obama administration.

Keep this in mind when you hear about the current "lipstick on a pig" kerfuffle. Barack Obama is being accused by the Wall Street Journal (whose editors should have been on this like a rash) and Drudge (predictable) of using the common saying "you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig" in reference to Sarah Palin. Here's the actual quote.

Let's just list this for a second. John McCain says he's about change, too. Except -- and so I guess his whole angle is, "Watch out, George Bush, except for economic policy, health-care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy, and Karl Rove-style politics. We're really gonna shake things up in Washington." That's not change. That's just calling some -- the same thing, something different. But you know, you can -- you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig.

So if John McCain wants to get mad about being called a pig with lipstick, that's fine. But let's be clear that A) it was McCain, not Palin, B) Obama was talking about the policy, not the man, and C) IT'S A METAPHOR.

Once again, humanity has the dubious honor of having been described accurately by H.L. Mencken. Knock it off, people.