Lying

Posted by Chris

John Bolton seems to have lied in his congressional testimony, and no one cares. The Young Bearded One writes:

Bracketing John Bolton and all partisan considerations, this is an odd and distressing development and I think it's genuinely weird that conservatives in general and Senate Republicans in particular are brushing it aside so casually. It's not as if Democrats are such paragons of virtue that the executive branch appointees of the next Democratic administration will be above engaging in such things when it suits them if it's been made clear that dissembling in congressional testimony is now going to be treated on the level of dissembling during a Meet The Press appearance. Our system of government relies, informally but crucially, on the proposition that people will be motivated not only by partisanship, but also by a sort of institutional jealously. Senators are supposed to stand on their privileges. Every member of the body loses a lot of authority when the "don't lie to the committee" norm collapses.

But when executive branch appointees of the next Democratic administration dissemble in congressional testimony, it surely won't be treated by anyone as equivalent to dissembling during a Meet The Press appearance. It will surely be treated as a very big deal. Republican casualness about the issue is perfectly comprehensible if we assume that they're assuming the same thing that I'm assuming about American political culture: That consistency will count for nothing and Democrats will be judged on a blatantly unfair double standard.

Posted by Chris at April 24, 2005 05:29 PM