Parsing the lie

[This post is from the 2012 presidential campaign.   I reprint it now because this is one of the old tricks that needs continual exposure.]

Ohhh, so clever !!!   Most politicians do it;  some are better at it than others.

You tell the literal truth, but take it out of context -- or put it in a context that seems to make it mean what you want it to mean.

The most blatant example in this campaign came when the Romney camp picked words out of an Obama speech that made it seem he had said the exact opposite of what he did say.   In fact, in this particular instance, he was quoting someone from the McCain campaign.   The Romney folks then lifted the words of the quote, omitted the "to quote the McCain camp," and had Obama saying the words as if they were his own.

Did Obama actually say those words?   Yes, of course.   But I argue that this is just as much a lie as if they had twisted his actual words to mean the opposite.   After all, if you take a dictionary and edit it just the right way, you can make it say anything you want.

Now comes the example of Paul Ryan's acceptance speech and his "lie" about the closing of the GM plant in his home town of Janesville, WI.   Here is what Ryan said:

"My home state voted for President Obama. . . .  When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory. . . .  A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant.  Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: 'I believe that if our government is there to support you...this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That’s what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight."

Do you think Ryan was trying to make you think it was Obama's fault that the plant closed?   Of course he was.

Democrats reacted with outrage and cried "Foul !"  Even the pundits said Ryan was distorting.   Because the Janesville GM plant closed operations in December 2008 -- weeks before Obama took office.  George W. Bush was president when it closed.

But did Ryan actually say Obama was responsible?   Read it carefully, parse the sentences.   No, he didn't.

Ryan may have lied in other parts of his speech -- the part about Obama's supposed removing the work requirements for welfare recipients.   But this one passes for literal accuracy -- but doesn't pass the smell test for a lie.

So, I say, a lie by any other name may smell as foul.

Ralph