People Lie

Especially, it seems, politicians. Especially politicians with an unpopular agenda. We've been seeing this for -- well, when did we develop the ability to speak?

And yet people are still amazed. Steve Benen gives a good description of the syndrome:

The Affordable Care Act had its flaws, but GOP officials simply weren't prepared for a credible discussion of the policy. So they lied uncontrollably. They'd tell a falsehood, be shown proof that it wasn't true, and then repeat the falsehood anyway. It was as depressing a display as anything I've ever seen in the American political discourse, and it's directly responsible for the widespread public confusion about the reform law that still exists.

They don't just lie about ACA. They lie about everything. Watch Tony Perkins on this clip -- David Boies calls him on his standard lie about social science, and he responds by telling another lie.



The key factor here -- and this is borne out by research -- is that if you repeat something enough, people will accept it as true. So maybe we need more people standing up and repeating the truth, loudly and often.