The power of flat-out self-delusion

posted at 1:00 pm on September 24, 2011 by
[ Blogosphere ]   

Liberals are sane, cerebral, and caring. Conservatives are crazy, dimwitted, and unfeeling. If you question the truth of these statements, just ask any liberal.

Ask Kevin Drum, who added a new descriptor in his most recent column in Mother Jones: liar.

Drum draws this conclusion from a statement made in Thursday’s debate by Herman Cain, who said of his 2006 diagnosis with stage 4 colon and liver cancer:

If we had been under Obamacare and a bureaucrat was trying to tell me when I could get that CAT scan that would have delayed my treatment.

My surgeons and doctors have told me that because I was able get the treatment as fast as I could, based upon my timetable and not the government’s timetable that’s what saved my life.

Drum quotes fellow liberal Paul Waldman, of the American Prospect, who reads quite a bit into Cain’s observation that Cain never actually verbalized before concluding:

You might say, ‘Well, nobody would be dumb enough to actually believe that,’ but you’d be so, so, wrong. It’s not just Cain. If you’re a conservative, you hear this kind of thing from politicians you like and trust, you hear it when you turn on Fox News and watch TV personalities you like and trust, and you hear it from radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh that you like and trust. You’ve heard it hundreds and hundreds of times. Were someone to tell you that it’s not just false but spectacularly, insanely false, you wouldn’t listen for a second.

Drum follows up with his own slightly less cranky variation on the same theme:

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is a real problem for liberals. Sure, we cherry-pick evidence, we spin world events, and we impose our worldview when we talk about policy. Everyone does that. But generally speaking, our opinion leaders don’t go on national TV, look straight into the camera, and just outright lie about stuff. Theirs do. [Emphasis added]

The criticisms reveal less about Cain than they do about the critics, who clearly know less about the “Affordable Care Act” than they seem to think (here is some suggested reading), but I am straying from the main theme: us lyin’ conservatives.

A portion of the highlighted quote of Drum is worth repeating: “Our opinion leaders don’t go on national TV, look straight into the camera, and just outright lie about stuff. Theirs do.”

Really? So when the learned former Florida congressman Alan Grayson said in a speech before the House of Representatives that “Republicans [who refused to sign on to ObamaCare] want you to die,” he was being truthful? Or when countless Democrats in Congress and their MSM water carriers claimed that Paul Ryan’s budget blueprint was a thinly veiled plot to murder old people, they were being perfectly honest?

How about the left’s most celebrated “opinion leader,” Barack Obama? When his Secretary of Health and Human Services admitted in April to double-counting in the ObamaCare budget, was that just a simple miscalculation on the administration’s part or was it deceit? How about the president’s statement in 2009 that“you don’t raise taxes in a recession?” Was he speaking the truth then, or is he speaking it now when he is calling for a tax increase on the richest Americans.

As recently as last Monday, Obama spoke of his reluctance to put “all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans.” Was he merely exaggerating? Or are he and deep thinkers like Kevin Drum and Paul Waldman really that clueless about the share of the U.S. tax burden financed by the wealthiest tax filers?

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Perhaps it’s the weather; cold, grey, drizzle.
Perhaps it’s old age; aches and pains, here and there.
Perhaps it’s low blood sugar, chronic fatigue, depression.

I just don’t care anymore.

Where can I find John Gault?

Skandia Recluse on September 24, 2011 at 1:19 PM

Clearly I’m one-a them dense conservatives. I don’t see where Drum or Waldman actually demonstrates that Cain lied. Lied about what? What’s their thesis here?

J.E. Dyer on September 24, 2011 at 1:25 PM

We would have a news alert if bho came out and actually looked in the camera and DID NOT lie!
L

letget on September 24, 2011 at 1:28 PM

Clearly I’m one-a them dense conservatives. I don’t see where Drum or Waldman actually demonstrates that Cain lied. Lied about what? What’s their thesis here?

J.E. Dyer on September 24, 2011 at 1:25 PM

It’s the liberal way. Repeat something often enough, it must be true.

gryphon202 on September 24, 2011 at 1:31 PM

Clearly I’m one-a them dense conservatives. I don’t see where Drum or Waldman actually demonstrates that Cain lied. Lied about what? What’s their thesis here?

J.E. Dyer on September 24, 2011 at 1:25 PM

It’s the liberal way. Repeat something often enough, it must be true.

gryphon202 on September 24, 2011 at 1:31 PM

Apparently when you’re an esteemed member of the National Socialist Left you only need to level the charge of someone lying to make it a true fact.

After all, they are Soooooo much better and caring than we troglodyte Conservatives that no evidence of malfeasance in necessary given the seriousness of the charge.

Chip on September 24, 2011 at 2:02 PM

These “Liberals/Progressives” frequently don’t lie, especially when pausing to inspire.

trl on September 24, 2011 at 3:44 PM

My favorite outright lie is the “Party of No” lie.

Republicans repeatedly advanced proposals for every issue that came before Congress since Obama took office. He knows that, but he went all over the country telling people that the Republicans just said no all the time. He repeated, “I’m open to solutions from anyone, just tell me what you have in mind, but no, all they do is say No.”

He even admitted he knew that was a lie, because when he talked to the Republicans about healthcare, he acknowledged several times that he had read their ideas and that they had good ideas. One of them (I think it was Ryan) actually said (this is on the video) “Thanks, Mr President, for acknowledging that we’ve had ideas.”

Breathtaking. And the “Party of No” meme stuck and still does.

YehuditTX on September 24, 2011 at 3:49 PM

I can personally attest that being able to obtain immediate care for a very aggressive and advanced cancer(Chlorangio-carcinoma)did indeed save my life. My initial diagnosis was that the cancer was most definitely inoperable, but because my case was so unusual, it got the attention of a large number of oncologists in CA. So within 2wks, I was able to have a 10hr surgery at Stanford Hospital (with 100% success!)
If I had to wait for several more weeks or months for some bureaucratic machine to decide if my life was ‘worthy enough to the State’ to save, I am quite sure I would not be here today.

auzerais on September 24, 2011 at 4:03 PM

What was the lie? Cain said he likely would have had to wait for his cancer surgery under Obamacare, which is absolutely true. Here in AZ, we frequently get cancer patients from Canada coming down here for the surgery that they could have under Canada’s national healthcare system — if they were willing to wait the six, eight, twelve, or even more months that the Canadian bureaucrats tell them they must wait. These patients are fortunate enough that they can afford to pay for their surgeries out of pocket. Think of all the Canadians who can’t afford to come to a U.S. hospital. While they’re waiting, their cancer is growing and spreading. Anyone who thinks that doesn’t affect their chances of survival is lying to themselves.

I saw an article yesterday on Drudge about how Obamacare is predicted to give more people health care, but it’s also going to increase wait times for everybody (since there are more people in the system, with the same number of doctors). But somehow Cain is a liar for stating what even the government now admits is true?

AZCoyote on September 24, 2011 at 4:48 PM

They know who pays most of the taxes and they want these people hated to the point where they feel justified in confiscating everything.

clnurnberg on September 24, 2011 at 4:53 PM

Liberals are sane, cerebral, and caring.

Yeah, maybe. But mostly they’re just angry. They’re always angry. They’re angry when they win and angry when they lose. They’re angry on the job and angry on strike. They’re angry at women and angry at men. They’re angry Jews and angry at Christians. They’re angry at the rich and angry about the poor. They’re angry when it’s warm and angry when it’s cold. Did I mention they’re always angry?

But at least they’re caring.

BKeyser on September 24, 2011 at 5:52 PM

“They’re angry [at] Jews…” (correction)

BKeyser on September 24, 2011 at 5:53 PM

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

JohnJ on September 24, 2011 at 5:54 PM

I thought this post was oging to be about Rick Perry. Nevermind.

gryphon202 on September 24, 2011 at 6:01 PM

“We’re going to sink this money into shovel ready projects and keep unemployment under 8%”"

tommyboy on September 25, 2011 at 7:40 AM

There are so many:

Obama:

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

…..except when Obama and the democrats think it’s great to attack oil rich countries,that have not attacked us,and posed no imminent threat.

Then we get the “it’s all about the civilians….we are not pursuing regime change”…..

and second, that to have acted alone or expanded the military mission to topple Qaddafi would have been too costly and repeated the mistakes of the Iraq War.

Nevertheless he cautioned: “But broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake.”

…of course regime change was the mission from the beginning.

Baxter Greene on September 25, 2011 at 9:59 AM

I can tell you in all honesty, Republicans “is” liars. It really just depends on what the meaning of “is” is in that context.

TubbyHubby on September 26, 2011 at 6:16 AM

The left’s opinion leaders are exactly as honest as their media figures.

JEM on September 26, 2011 at 10:16 AM