> I'm not sure why "hey! that was a joke" is horrible when applied to a person, but acceptable when applied to policies. Let me quote Bret Stephens' take on th

> I'm not sure why "hey! that was a joke" is horrible when applied to a person, but acceptable when applied to policies. Let me quote Bret Stephens' take on the matter, writing in the (Republican-leaning) Wall Street Journal -- "Sometime in the 1990s I began to understand the Clinton way of lying, and why it was so successful. To you and me, the Clinton lies were statements demonstrably at variance with the truth, and therefore wrong and shameful. But to the initiated they were an invitation to an intoxicating secret knowledge. What was this knowledge? That the lying was for the greater good, usually to fend off some form of Republican malevolence. What was so intoxicating? That the initiated were smart enough to see through it all. Why be scandalized when they could be amused? Why moralize when they could collude?" -- http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-and-the-liberal-way-of-lying-1428968021 http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-and-the-liberal-way-of-l... Disclaimer. No representation is made in this comment as to the exclusivity or generality of this manner of lying to any particular political parties, politicians, or nations -- that is left as an exercise to the reader.