I often have observed that real political journalism died the day that Bill Clinton successfully substituted the word “spin” for what previously had been recognized simply as a “lie.”  I don’t suggest, mind you, that Bill Clinton is responsible for the word spin.  That term goes back to the days of sailing ships, when sailors would tell tall tales while they were working on ropes.  As best I can tell, the political connotation of the term “spin” dates to October of 1984, when members of the Reagan campaign used a hotel ballroom to discuss debate performances with the media; those Reagan supporters then being dubbed “the spin patrol.”  Since then, the notion of “spin rooms” filled with “spinmeisters” has come into common usage.  However, the point is, that until Bill Clinton came along, everybody understood that the “spin” and the truth were two different things.  Bill Clinton changed all that.  He inaugurated what I like to call, “a movable truth.”  That is, what was offered as the truth one day might change over time as events transpired; the truth thereupon being transformed from a statement in conformity with facts or reality, to whatever seemed to be politically expedient at the moment.  Which is not to say that Bill Clinton was the first President to lie, far from it.   After all, in the 16th Century, Machiavelli, perhaps anticipating the 1955 hit by The Platters, told us that a leader must be a great pretender and a dissembler.  Sometimes there’s a good reason to lie.  Eisenhower denied we were making U2 flights over Russia in 1960.  Kennedy denied we were planning to invade Cuba in 1961.  LBJ was so accomplished as a liar, that his nickname in college was “Bull Johnson.”  This was not because he raised cattle.  President Truman said of Nixon, “There is a man who will never tell the truth when a simple lie will do.”  This may be what prompted Jimmy Carter to vow, “I’ll never lie to you.”  Since the Carter presidency was an abject failure, maybe the truth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  But here’s the thing.  When LBJ lied, the media duly reported that he had “a credibility gap.”  The media, and the public, recognized that they were not being told the truth, and both concluded that that this was a bad thing which was unbecoming for a chief executive.  Not any more.  Bill Clinton told us that what was true depended on what your definition “of what the word ‘is’ is.”  Then, when he was exposed as a baldfaced liar, the media told us that it really didn’t matter anyhow.  Barack Obama?  Where do I begin?  “I was a law professor.”  “I’m not a socialist.”  “You can keep your insurance.”  “You can keep your doctor.”  “Your premiums will go down $2500.”  Need I continue?  All lies, but it didn’t matter.  There are exceptions.  Apparently, “Bush lied, and people died.”  However, Obama and Hillary Clinton lied, and people in Benghazi died … and don’t bother us with the facts.  And, what about Hillary Clinton?  She lied to make her husband President.  She lied to keep her husband President.  She defamed the myriad women who reported her husband’s sexual abuse of them.  She lied about her billing records.  She lied about her investments.  She lied about Benghazi.  She lied about the Clinton Foundation.  She lied about her email server.  And because of all that, she’s now the leading Democrat candidate to be the next President.  Isn’t it time?  Time for what, a lying President?  No it’s not. (See above).

I guess the moral of this story is that a lie is only a bad thing is you’re a Republican, and are somehow afflicted with the unnatural desire to be told the truth.  Which brings us to last night’s Republican debate.  Ted Cruz said Rubio lied.  Donald Trump said Cruz lied.  Both Cruz and Rubio said Trump lied.  Ben Carson said, “Won’t someone please accuse me of lying?”  Kasich said – well, does it really matter?  Truth be told, Rubio lied in two languages.  Trump changes his story with stunning regularity, and when Cruz repeats actual things Trump has said, Trump calls Cruz a “liar.”  Then the Cruz campaign stoked the liar fire with the Photoshopped picture of Rubio and the claims about Rubio which forced Cruz’s communications director to resign.  Not his finest hour.  Bottom line, Cruz isn’t lying, but in the crazy world of politics in 2016, it doesn’t seem to matter.  Maybe the public has become so jaded that it no longer expects to hear the truth.  Maybe public service has ceased being a public trust.  If so, that’s discouraging.  After all, it was no less an authority than Donald Trump who recently proclaimed,  “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”  Maybe he’s right.  Would I lie?