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Who is the bigger liar? Joe Biden or Donald Trump?
By Kent R. Kroeger (September 1, 2020)
“It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.”
― Noël Coward
As we head into the peak season for political lies, half-truths and pre-planned obfuscations, I dug out an old article I wrote a couple of years ago about how political lies and deceits are ill-defined and typically misconstrued in the national news media.
This problem was particularly evident during the news coverage of the Republican National Convention last week when President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech produced a predictable flurry of stories about how the “lies” in his speech.
Trump’s parade of desperate lies reveals one big and awful truth (Wash. Post)
Fact check: Trump makes more than 20 false or misleading claims in accepting presidential nomination (CNN)
Trump’s Acceptance Speech Was 70 Minutes of Rambling Lies (Vice.com)
His reported lies ranged from claiming the U.S. has “the largest and most advanced (COVID-19) testing system in the world” (Fact: The U.S. has conducted more COVID-19 tests than any other country outside of China) to suggesting that the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic has “saved or…