Or the Independent. Or Le Monde. Because it seems like press and Bush regime Newspeak on Iraq is now complete. Anybody we fight or kill in Iraq is now called “Al Qaeda,” which is the Big Lie the regime used to get us into Iraq in the first place.  Read more 

The way kids used to take turn standing on each other’s shoulders so the one on top could peek through the knothole in the outfield wall and watch the ballgame, we present today’s host who frees Krugman from the paywall: the admirably named Free Democracy, bringing us “Sweet Little Lies.” Or more accuratly, an honest discussion of the lies, named accurately as lies, and broken down into Little and Big Lies. We’ve been hearing the Lies of both sorts for some years now, they just haven’t been given their proper name.

Four years into a war fought to eliminate a nonexistent threat, we all have renewed appreciation for the power of the Big Lie: people tend to believe false official claims about big issues, because they can’t picture their leaders being dishonest about such things.

But there’s another political lesson I don’t think has sunk in: the power of the Little Lie — the small accusation invented out of thin air, followed by another, and another, and another. Little Lies aren’t meant to have staying power. Instead, they create a sort of background hum, a sense that the person facing all these accusations must have done something wrong.

Oh yes, we know what he’s talking about. “Socialized medicine is EEEE-villl!” “Sadaam has 4000 liters of anthrax!” “Welfare dependency weakens the moral fiber!” “The Iraq war will pay for itself just like the last one did” “The jobs we lose to overseas are crappy jobs anyway, and if people will just go back to school and learn computers they’ll have nicer, neater jobs and be better off anyway”. But go read Froom for the analysis of just how deep some of these have sunk in, and to whose benefit.

Lies. Lies. Just keep saying that word. It’s not a “misstatement” or a “rephrasing” or a “lapse of judgement.” It’s a lie, Mr. Limbaugh. It’s a lie, Mr. Gingrich. It’s a lie, you filthy pig Cheney. You too, Crashcart.  Read more