Patton: Deception Abounds At Presidential Debates

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Political debates are sort of like football pep rallies - long on excitement and short on the truth. Scorn is heaped on the opposing team. In the recent Republican (1/14/16) and Democratic (1/17/16) debates, opposition leaders were characterized as little less than the devil incarnate. At the Republican debate, respect for the office of the presidency evaporated as candidates threw red meat lines to ravenous supporters. Chris Christie said of President Obama, “We’re going to kick your rear-end out of the White House.” (Houston Chronicle, 1/15/16). Ah, such diplomacy. Such grace.

And, of course, the truth was trampled in the process. Considered as a whole, Chris Christie was the winner of the Pinocchio Award as the candidate who repeatedly strayed furthest from the facts. His hometown newspaper, the Newark Star-Ledger (1/15/16), reported some of Christie’s whoppers:

“Christie: ‘First of all, I didn’t support (Supreme Court Justice) Sonia Sotomayor.’”

But the Star-Ledger reports, “In a statement issued July 17, 2009, then-gubernatorial candidate Christie said he would not have chosen Sotomayor, but that ‘I support her appointment to the Supreme Court and urge the Senate to keep politics out of the process and confirm her nomination.’”

Hmm, that was strike one. Here comes strike two. Christie: “I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood.”

But Christie also said: “I support Planned Parenthood privately with my personal contribution and that should be the goal of any such agency, to find private donations,’ Christie was quoted as saying in a Sept. 30, 1994 article in The Star-Ledger.”’

Will Christie take strike three? Christie: “And on Common Core. Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey.”

But the Star-Ledger reports: “Christie, once a Common Core supporter, did denounce the academic standards last year. But it’s not accurate to say Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey.”

Let’s give Christie another chance. Break the rules and give him a strike four?

Christie: “I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind.”

And the Star-Ledger replies: “. . . at a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire, he said ‘I‘ve said before that if there comes a time when the U.S. needs to take some refugees, that we should.’”

Sorry Gov. Christie The Newark Star-Ledger calls you out on strikes.

And where would a whopper contest be without Donald Trump?
Said Trump, “When I looked at the (Syrian) migration, I looked at the line . . . where are the women? They look like - very few women, very few children - strong, powerful men. Young. And people are looking at that,, and they’re saying, ‘What’s going on?’” (The Washington Post , 1/14/16).

The Post replied, “United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data shows men and women are split evenly among 4.6 million registered Syrian refugees.”

A quartet of Republican candidates harmonized, all of them alleging that President Obama purposefully weakened our military. (Chicago Tribune, 1/15/2016).

“Jeb Bush: ‘Every weapons system has been gutted.’”

“Trump: ‘Our military is a disaster.”’

“Carson: ‘We have the world’s best military, even though he (President

Barack Obama) has done everything he can to diminish it.”’

“Marco Rubio: ‘This president is undermining our military.’ “This president is more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than in funding the military.’”

Why are all four singing the siren song of military weakness? These perennial accusations are a sure vote-getter among rank-and-file Republicans who apparently lie wide awake at night trying to comfort themselves by counting our nuclear weapons.

The Tribune responds: “The Facts: These broadsides were stated in sweeping terms that reflect defense budget cuts approved by a Republican-controlled Congress (note that) and signed into law by Obama. It’s true that the defense budget has shrunk and that this has forced the military services to reduce their ranks and attempt to trim benefits to troops. But far from being ‘gutted,’ some key elements of the military have expanded, including the special operations forces. “

Similarly, at the Democratic debate, candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had some trouble getting the facts straight, too. (Associated Press/The Blaze, 1/18/16).

“CLINTON on Sanders’ proposal for a (completely new) taxpayer-paid health care system: ‘I don’t want to see us start over again with a contentious debate.’”

“SANDERS: ‘We’re not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act, but build on it.’”

“THE FACTS: As Clinton suggests, Sanders plan would mean a radical change in direction - one that makes the government the payer of health care for everyone, not just for the elderly or the poorest Americans or members of the military.”

So, what’s the poor voter to do to detect political lying? It’s simple. Just carry a tape measure with you and determine the length of candidates’ noses. Like Pinocchio, they grow with each lie. At this point, some must be long enough to get caught in the door.

Gary Patton is the author of two books, “Selling Mt. Washington,” a political satire about New Hampshire politics, and “Outtastatahs: Newcomers’ Adventures in New Hampshire, “ a humorous account of the struggles of newcomers to this state. Both books are now available in Portsmouth at the River Run Bookstore , Discover Portsmouth, and Tugboat Alley. In Exeter, these books can be obtained at The Water Street Bookstore and the Country Store at RiverWoods. In Hampton, look for them at the Galley Hatch gift shop. In North Hampton, both are available at “The Book Outlet.” In Concord, these books can be found at Gibson’s Bookstore. They are also available on-line at Amazon.com.