Couric Asks: Describe a situation when you think it’s appropriate to lie to the American people

A pretty inane question and both Senators McCain and Obama answer that it’s never okay to lie, but, at least, we find out that John McCain knows that there were no televisions in the 30s:

Couric: What about in a national security situation?
McCain: Yeah. I was trying to imagine that. But if you deceive the American people and you want their support, and you want them to beat back this national security challenge, and you don’t tell them the truth about it then I think they become disillusioned. That’s happened in the past.
Couric: Vietnam, for example
McCain: Yeah. the Vietnam War. “The light is at the end of the tunnel,” and it turned out to be a train. I think one of the reasons why America came out of the Great Depression is that Franklin Delano Roosevelt went on the radio all the time and had the fireside chats and said “here’s what we’re facing but here’s what we’re going to do.” And every time the great presidents including some I really admire have not told the American people the complete truth, then they’ve paid a price for it.