Gene Lyons: Bush loyalists: Blame firings on Clinton

Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/185149/

If it achieves nothing else, the Bush administration’s solitary contribution to the art of governance may be its creative use of what TV comic Stephen Colbert calls “truthiness.” Mostly, Colbert remains in character as a blowhard FOX News-style pundit. But he once gave a serious interview.. “Truthiness,” Colbert said, “is tearing apart our country.... It used to be everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that’s not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It’s certainty. People love the president because he’s certain of his choices as a leader; even if the facts that back him up don’t seem to exist.... What is important ? What you want to be true or what is true ?” The dude must be reading my e-mail. Scarcely a day passes without “conservative” screeds accusing me of irrational hatred for our peerless leader, most couched in sheer truthiness: half-truths, pseudo-facts and downright buncombe. It’s the sameness that’s striking. Most repeat the same bogus arguments in nearidentical order.