Which president told the biggest whoppers?

[Tennessee Gal]

THIS IS GOOD! CLICK THROUGH AND READ THE LIES!


The Mendacity Index

Which president told the biggest whoppers?

Ronald Reagan: Overall Mendacity Rating = 3.3

George H. W. Bush: Overall Mendacity Rating = 3.2

Bill Clinton: Overall Mendacity Rating = 3.1

George W. Bush: Overall Mendacity Rating = 3.6

To come up with our Mendacity Index, we asked a nominating committee* of noted journalists and pundits to pick the most serious fibs, deceptions, and untruths spoken by each of the four most recent presidents. We selected the top six for each commander-in-chief, then presented the list to a panel of judges** with longtime experience in Washington. Panel members were instructed to rate each deception on a scale of 1 (least serious) to 5 (most serious). Then we averaged the scores for each deception and for each president. We believe their validity rests somewhere between the Periodic Table and the U.S. News & World Report college rankings.


Nominating Committee: Tony Blankley, Sidney Blumenthal, James Carville, John Fund, Joe Conason, Jonah Goldberg, Hendrick Hertzberg, Haynes Johnson, Hamilton Jordan, Michael Kinsley, Victor Navasky, Bruce Reed, Wlady Pleszczynski, and David Tell

*Panel of Judges: Jodie Allen, Russell Baker, Margaret Carlson, Thomas Mann, Norm Ornstein, Richard Reeves, Larry Sabato, and Juan Williams

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.mendacity-experts.html

[procopia]

1. Outrageous!

How can "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" be given the same rating (4.1) as "I was out of the loop?" Was there no consideration given for national and international impact of the lie?

[Ivory_Tower]

2. I thought this was interesting

Regarding Reagan's mythical "Welfare Queen":
"Reagan continued to use his version of the story even after the press pointed out the actual facts of the case to him."

Imagine, the press used to point out actual facts to a president when he made stuff up.

Ah, those were the days....

[ComerPerro]

3. Yeah but they let him keep using his lie

So its not much different now

[Ivory_Tower]

4. True, but at least they pointed it out

Now the press often just repeats the lie as fact, without checking up on the lie. Hell, sometimes it seems they're fed the lie on background so they become the ones that break the story. Then the administration can just repeat what was "reported" as fact.

I also wonder if Reagan's continual ignoring of the facts finally led the press to just give up. Of course, in Reagan's case, the popular media portrayal was that he was just stupid (or losing his memory maybe), so they still helped keep him in a positive light most of the time.

[blondeatlast]

5. That makes me feel old; those were the good old days.