From the San Francisco Chronicle, Bush will say anything -- no lie
"Bill Clinton lies about big things and does it very well; Al Gore lies about little things and does it very badly. None of his fibs really amount to much, but they remind voters of what they don't like about Clinton. With Bush, voters see a decent, likable and truthful candidate, but they're not sure he's up to the job." -- Charlie Cook, National Journal, Oct. 28, 2000 .
AS THIS quotation from one of America's best nonpartisan political analysts demonstrates, George W. Bush's 2000 campaign for the presidency was based in large part on the idea that Bush was honest while Clinton and Gore were liars. The phrase "little lies" stuck to Gore early, and he never shook it.
All of which makes it surprising that the media do not pay more attention to the ways in which Bush and his White House say whatever is necessary, even if they have to admit later that what they said the first time wasn't exactly true.
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Then there's the president's claim that his dividend tax cut is about creating jobs in a sluggish American economy. If you take the president's statements at face value, each new job created by his tax cut would cost the government $550,000 in lost revenues -- about 17 times the salary of the average American worker.
Since there have to be cheaper ways to create jobs, should we really believe that the president believes that his latest tax cut is about employment? Isn't it clear by now that he'll say anything to win support for a new tax cut?