Lies, Damn Lies, and Neocon Foreign Policy Lies
There are many types of lies. I follow foreign policy closely, so these diverse modes of right wing lies have been very disturbing to me this year. Note: This isn't meant to be partisan. I skew liberal but my main foreign policy reading is Daniel Larison at the American Conservative.
1. Republican claim: The Iran nuclear deal has paved the way for Iran to get nuclear weapons. This is interesting because it's not a twisting of the truth: It's the exact opposite. I'll say that again: The exact opposite. When Trump makes this claim it's because he's completely ignorant of anything not connected to his shady business dealings. When Christie and Giuliani make it, they know damn well they are lying. My vote is for Christie as The Worst Person In America. Read Fred Kaplan for a guide to Christie's disgusting mendacity.
2. Claim: Obama is paying Iranian terrorists to kill us. The interesting thing is that the amount of Iranian funds that were unfrozen (it was their money, which was always being held as an incentive to force them to accept a nuke deal) has proven to be so low that Iranian hard-liners (their counterpart to our Republicans) are saying that they got taken by the other side in this deal. Also, if Iranians are spending the money externally (which doesn't make sense since their internal economy is a wreck, and the sizeable moderate portion of the citizenry expects domestic spending) it is in large part to combat and destroy ISIS. Call this a lie of reckless hyperbole.
3. Claim: Obama lost the war in Iraq and is personally responsible for ISIS, to use John McCain's words. What he fails to mention is something he actually did own in the '08 election, which is that the only way not to "lose" Iraq after the Surge would have been to keep a permanent occupying force of 150,000 soldiers there -- for up to fifty years or more. The voters decided they didn't want that. McCain's lie is one of intentional distortion and omission. He knows the truth but is content to antagonize and demonize. Disgraceful.
1. Republican claim: The Iran nuclear deal has paved the way for Iran to get nuclear weapons. This is interesting because it's not a twisting of the truth: It's the exact opposite. I'll say that again: The exact opposite. When Trump makes this claim it's because he's completely ignorant of anything not connected to his shady business dealings. When Christie and Giuliani make it, they know damn well they are lying. My vote is for Christie as The Worst Person In America. Read Fred Kaplan for a guide to Christie's disgusting mendacity.
2. Claim: Obama is paying Iranian terrorists to kill us. The interesting thing is that the amount of Iranian funds that were unfrozen (it was their money, which was always being held as an incentive to force them to accept a nuke deal) has proven to be so low that Iranian hard-liners (their counterpart to our Republicans) are saying that they got taken by the other side in this deal. Also, if Iranians are spending the money externally (which doesn't make sense since their internal economy is a wreck, and the sizeable moderate portion of the citizenry expects domestic spending) it is in large part to combat and destroy ISIS. Call this a lie of reckless hyperbole.
3. Claim: Obama lost the war in Iraq and is personally responsible for ISIS, to use John McCain's words. What he fails to mention is something he actually did own in the '08 election, which is that the only way not to "lose" Iraq after the Surge would have been to keep a permanent occupying force of 150,000 soldiers there -- for up to fifty years or more. The voters decided they didn't want that. McCain's lie is one of intentional distortion and omission. He knows the truth but is content to antagonize and demonize. Disgraceful.
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