re: bush's credentials! a life of deception Bush's supporters...

re: bush's credentials! a life of deception Bush's supporters may argue that Bush's presidential whoppers are not unusual, that all presidents and probably all politicians exaggerate or twist the truth now and then. That was the point the Washington Post was making in describing Bush's malleability with the truth as part of a long presidential tradition.

But Bush's growing record of lies, both big and small, suggest something perhaps more troubling. His personal history of heavy drinking, likely drug use, carousing, disappearances from military duty, repeated business failures and political hypocrisies – combined with his ability to avoid ever paying a significant price for his deceptions – may have given him this sense of his own infallibility.

That view of invulnerability to consequences at a time the nation is facing an array of complex dangers could prove a hazardous mix. The pressure on Bush to revert to a lifelong pattern of telling lies and half-truths – and getting away with it – will almost certainly lead to more bending of reality to his political needs.

That danger is twofold: Bush may compensate for his lack of foreign policy experience by trying to make regional realities fit with his limited knowledge, and he may misrepresent key information to the American people to simplify his challenge of keeping the U.S. public onboard.

Yet at the core of any democracy is the right of the voters to know the facts. That is especially true for a democracy facing a world of crises.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2002/110402a.html