Never Tell A Lie That’s Too Easily Unraveled

The Bushies have released an ad on John Kerry’s rampant absenteeism from Intelligence Committee meetings (76%), among other things, that no less than Dick Morris described on Sean Hannity’s show today as “devastating.” Also mentioned is Kerry’s attempt to ax $6 BILLION from Intelligence funding in 1994, after the first WTC attack, which not even Ted Kennedy was willing to support, but it’s the failure to even show up a quarter of the time that seems to be the resonating and relatable factor to the importance that Brah-man really puts on spookdom.

The increasingly beleaguered Kerryites countered that this was at public Intel committee meetings, and that his attendance at closed-door meetings was much better. But of course the only way to prove that would be to release records of those meetings, which Chairman Sam Brownback (R-KS) cannot do without Senator Kerry’s permission. And that permission is about as likely as his permission to release his military records, which, if his version of his Vietnam tour is on the level, would seem to put a, well, “swift” end to the whole Swiftboat vet challenge.

Everybody thinks that the moral to the story of the boy who cried wolf is that you should always tell the truth. And it is. But a more cynical, and some would say more relevant one to the times in which we live, is, “Never tell a lie that’s too easily unraveled.” And what will ultimately be the bitterest irony for John Kerry is that it mattered little where he put his biographical emphasis – Vietnam or the Senate – because there was little chance of his tall tales in either withstanding the level of scrutiny that comes with a presidential bid.

A rigorously competitive nominating process would vet weaknesses like this, but I’ve already well-plowed that ground.