Maybe if we started stamping this on Republican foreheads...
As a young man my parents taught me not to lie. I as a parent I have stressed to my son that he should always be honest and tell the truth. Now, we all know that there is a gray area with white lies and half-truths we tell everyday to save someone’s feelings or to avoid embarrassing social situations. But those are not the lies we are talking about. We are talking about a double standard when it comes to the truth, Democrats, and Republicans.
On January 26th, 1998 then-President Bill Clinton uttered the lie heard 'round the world, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." At the time I was disappointed in the president—he cheated on his wife and lied about it; however, at the time, and to this day I feel that this was and always should have been an issue between the president and first lady. The Republican Party felt differently and impeached the president of the United States for lying about getting a blowjob.
Since then, President Bush lied about the evidence that sent us to war in Iraq and Republican politicians and talking heads have lied to the American people about everything from death panels to what would happen if the country defaulted on its debt. Here in Wisconsin we have a governor who has done nothing but lie to his constituents since before he was on the campaign trail.
In Governor Walker's case it has become obvious since the John Doe I emails have been released that he knew about and used the secret network in his county executive office. I see no moves by Republican leadership in Wisconsin to even censure him. Of course this isn't even his biggest lie—I am not even sure how you could determine his biggest lie as he does it so often. From lying about voting for Reagan (which later came out to be a transcription error, but no one doubted that he would have lied about something like that) to lying about why he left college. Walker seems to have forgotten that he is the son of a preacher and Eagle Scout.
Of course Scott Walker is not the only Republican liar: Chris Christie; Ron Paul; Rand Paul; Mitch McConnell; John Boehner; Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker, who lied in order to defeat VW employees from unionizing. The list goes on and on.
It is ironic that President Clinton was impeached for lying about a blowjob. Yet Republican politicians can lie about climate change, unions, healthcare, gun regulations, and a myriad of other issues that actually impact our country—yet they are never called on their lies. Their feet are never held to the fire for it. There is a double standard if a Democrat lies about anything; it is national news for months. If a Republican lies there is an initial uproar over it, but nothing is done; they are not censured, they are not impeached.
The only way to change this is to change the way Americans get their news. One, we need a truly independent media. Eight companies should not control virtually all of the news media in this country. This is why the Comcast/Time-Warner merger is such a horrible idea. It will consolidate an already consolidated industry. Two, we desperately need the fairness doctrine to be reinstated. Then we need people with courage to stand up to the Republican liars and put them in their place. My mom would have washed my mouth out with soap for lying. Maybe we need to start doing that to lying Republicans.