Presidential Mendacity and Apocrypha, Urban Legends, and Media Pliability

Whoppers, whether told by presidents of countries or companies, survive only with the help of the profit oriented media.

Most who believe George Bush’s version of the Osama satellite phone story, revived recenlty to justify unchecked spying, also still believe Ronald Reagan’s story about the Cadillac driving, multiple husband, lack of values, welfare queen, which the media gladly repeated with little question. According to Franklin D. Gilliam, “How we come to understand the world around us, according to Walter Lippmann, is a function of the ‘pictures in our heads.’ Lippmann hypothesized that the news media plays a critical role in the formation of these images. In the three-quarters of a century since the publication of Lippmann’s ‘Public Opinion,’ a wealth of scholarly literature has supported his original formulation.”

In 2003, The Washington Monthly, provided The Mendacity Index which rated the current and past three presidents on their abilities to tell “whoppers.” I guess telling whoppers and manipulating a pliable media has become a key part of the job description for the President of the United States.

For a summary of the facts behind Bin Laden’s use and disposal of his satellite phone, review File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under ‘Urban Myths’