Presidential Pants on Fire?

There’s an idea gaining momentum among Democrats and pundits on the left: George W. Bush is a bigger liar than Bill Clinton ever was. Writers like Paul Krugman of the New York Times, E. J. Dionne and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, and Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect have all suggested that Bush has a serious problem with the truth, while others, like The Nation’s Eric Alterman, have said flatly, “President Bush is a liar.” The Post’s Richard Cohen invoked Mary McCarthy’s famous jab at Lillian Heilman—“Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’”—before concluding: “The same cannot yet be said about George W. Bush and his administration, but it has not been around as long as Heilman was and is not nearly as creative.”

On the web, Bushwatch.com maintains a special “Bush Lies” section, while another site, Dailyhowler.com, keeps up a running commentary on the president’s alleged untruths. And this fall, sometime comedian A1 Franken will no doubt be pushing the idea in his book, Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them—A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. In short, accusing the president of lying is a growth industry on the left.

About the Author

Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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There’s an idea gaining momentum among Democrats and pundits on the left: George W. Bush is a bigger liar than Bill Clinton ever was. Writers like Paul Krugman of the New York Times, E. J. Dionne and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, and Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect have all suggested that Bush has a serious problem with the truth, while others, like The Nation’s Eric Alterman, have said flatly, “President Bush is a liar.” The Post’s Richard Cohen invoked Mary McCarthy’s famous jab at Lillian Heilman—“Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’”—before concluding: “The same cannot yet be said about George W. Bush and his administration, but it has not been around as long as Heilman was and is not nearly as creative.”

On the web, Bushwatch.com maintains a special “Bush Lies” section, while another site, Dailyhowler.com, keeps up a running commentary on the president’s alleged untruths. And this fall, sometime comedian A1 Franken will no doubt be pushing the idea in his book, Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them—A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. In short, accusing the president of lying is a growth industry on the left.