PBS’s Jim Lehrer:
By on May 11th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
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actually, if we were smart about it, we’d always assume the president, and all politicians are lying – and require them to prove to us that they’re not.
politics and lying have gone together for centuries.
Some further reading:
“Politicians Lie? Say it Ain’t So!”
May 11th, 2007 at 3:47 pmhttp://www.populistamerica.com/politicians_lie___say_it_ain_t_so
Unless his name is George W. Bush, that is.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:48 pmYes you do.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:48 pmI personally don’t assume George W. Bush is lying (call him the president of the US, if you must) . . . I KNOW George W. Bush is lying whenever he opens his war-mongering pie-hole.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:50 pmHis history proves it.
The impeachment can’t come soon enough.
“Hey Jim, the moon is made of green cheese!” — GWB
May 11th, 2007 at 3:51 pmMore to the point, you shouldn’t assume that he’s telling the truth!
May 11th, 2007 at 3:51 pmNo, Jim…you don’t. And that is why you are completely useless as a journalist.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:51 pmlehrer is also the guy who said it is not his job as a journalist to ferret out the truth. Remember this when pledge time rolls around.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:52 pmExactly why I stopped watching The News Hour over 5 years ago. Everything’s so polite, well-ordered, shiny and happy in Jim’s world. He appears to have not been paying any attention whatsoever during this administration.
Let’s start with the “Mission Accomplished” banner 4 years ago. A lie as big as an aircraft carrier, right?
May 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pmI’m confused. LBJ did lie about the Gulf of Tonkin. Nixon did lie –and lied and lied and lied. I’m not sure Reagan lied, he seemed to be unable to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Clinton crossed his fingers –and then wagged them at you. And Bush, well, he’s worst than Nixon: Bush lies and lies and lies, but he starts believing his own lies he’s that gullible. Nixon at least knew he was lying.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pmI don’t have a problem with Jim Lehrer. It is the job of the media to check gov’ts, though. Even ones they like.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pmJim Lehrer, David Broder, Katie Couric, et al:
Welcome to 2007. The President of the United States lies every time he opens his mouth, and everyone knows it except the braindead sycophant media.
Mr. Lehrer: how can you not see what a pathetic parody of yourself you’ve become?
May 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pmMore to the point, you shouldn’t assume that he’s telling the truth!
Comment by Jamie — May 11, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
Excellent point, Jamie. How about if journalists just expect claims to be proven before parroting back the administration line?
May 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pmYou and I may not Jim. But I a lot of people do.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:54 pmMore to the point, you shouldn’t assume that he’s telling the truth!
Comment by Jamie — May 11, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
Even an evil conservative like me can agree with that. But that holds true to any politician.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:54 pmI always assume he’s lying because we’ve never been able to prove he’s been honest.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:54 pmWell, maybe that is a cross that professional journalists have to bear, does not change the fact that the general electorate should assume every damn politician that is breathing is lying. Just better to err on the side of caution.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:54 pm“You don’t assume the president of the US is lying.â€
Given that he’s been shown to have lied about EVERYTHING so far, I’d say it’s a pretty fair assumption.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:55 pmNo, you don’t initially assume that the President is lying. However, once he, and members of his administration have lied – repeatedly – and in fact seem to lie a hell of a lot more than telling the truth, at some point you have to say, yes, you have to assume that this particular President is lying.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:55 pmActually, it’s best not to “assume” a’tall
May 11th, 2007 at 3:56 pmHail to the Fuhrer!
May 11th, 2007 at 3:56 pm“You don’t assume the president of the US is lying. ….
May 11th, 2007 at 3:56 pm…… but given his history it sure does save a whole lot of time
Nah, you just assume that he’s standing while choking on pretzel.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:56 pmThe Founding Fathers said that you (we) should be constantly vigilant and skeptical – because power corrupts most people.
Bush has repeatedly reminded us why they said that.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:00 pmWhat’s the larger context here? Is Jim criticizing the Emperor Chimp Bush? Or has he fallen into step with Faux News?
May 11th, 2007 at 4:00 pm“You don’t assume the president of the US is lying.â€
That’s very true.
In GW’s case you see if his lips are moving 1st…
May 11th, 2007 at 4:00 pmand there were not that many people asking a lot of questions,
uh, someone might want to remind lehrer that HE’S GOT A FUCKING HOUR-LONG COMMERCIAL FREE NIGHTLY PROGRAM TO ASK THOSE GODDAMN QUESTIONS.
what a lazy, shift-the-blame, prick.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:02 pmNo J. Cizzy, Jim is telling like it is.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:02 pmI sure did from 1993 to 2001. And I was right!
May 11th, 2007 at 4:02 pmYou don’t assume the president of the US is lying.
Wanna know what’s wrong with the Beltway media? Jim Lehrer nails it in a single sentence.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:03 pm“You don’t assume the president of the US is lying.” – Jim Lehrer
You’re right, Jim, we don’t assume he’s lying…. WE KNOW HE IS LYING!!!!!!
May 11th, 2007 at 4:08 pmThe first informed thing Kevin has said. So, I am throwing a party to celebrate Kevin coming out of the conservative closet. I his honor, I will be serving Freedom Fries, Freedom Toast and Freedom Dips on Freedom Rolls.
Go go team terror!
May 11th, 2007 at 4:11 pmYes, because a blowjob (you really need one) is so much worse than starting a war.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:12 pmit’s like that old saying: “fool me once, shame on me; fool jim lehrer over and over, shame on jim lehrer.”
May 11th, 2007 at 4:13 pmI sure did from 1993 to 2001. And I was right!
Comment by Patrick1 — May 11, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
Isn’t he cute when he talks like the grownups? Too bad it’s past his bedtime. Patty… Patty… Patty! Stop licking that man’s boot and get to bed! I said, stop licking that man’s boot. He’s not even the President.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:13 pmNo, not when the press does it for him!
May 11th, 2007 at 4:16 pmI have to agree with Jim Lehrer…
Assumption is bad – BUT when the evidence is there, you are well within your rights to call the president a liar.
THE PRESIDENT HAS LIED. THE PRESIDENT DOES LIE. THE PRESIDENT IS A LIAR.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:19 pmMore to the point, you shouldn’t assume that he’s telling the truth!
Comment by Jamie — May 11, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
Which is exactly what Jim Lehrer says, if you read the entire transcript:
“You have to have a healthy scepticism, you have to be alert, but you also have to try as a reporter, to understand these decisions, and understand what’s in the minds of the people who are making these decisions on behalf of the public, particularly when it comes to war and peace. The important thing is that there be other sources of information besides the government.”
“I don’t think necessarily just kind of a kneejerk reaction ‘Well if the government says it, it’s got to be true’, because I don’t know of any professional journalist who believes that. I mean if you believe that, you’re in the wrong business, you ought to be a stenographer rather than a reporter.”
I, for one, think we need more Lehrers in the media. There’s still some room for polite discourse in this country.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:21 pmI never met a politician that didn’t lie. Get Real!
May 11th, 2007 at 4:23 pmBush talking about Tony Blair in today’s Boston Globe:
“I’ll miss Tony Blair,” Bush said at the Pentagon after meeting with US commanders for an update on the war. “I have found him to be a man who’s kept his word, which sometimes is rare in the political circles I run in.”
No, sh*t, Bush. This says it all.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:24 pmNaturally, one never assumes such a hideous thing as a president lying to the american people. However, if it smells like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks out of both sides of it’s mouth consistently, one must assume that it’s certainly a “lyin’lameduck President”.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:24 pmIt’s time for these old guys in the media to just retire. They are Bush enablers.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:33 pmJeebus – where’s he been since 1963?
May 11th, 2007 at 4:37 pmAck!
Of course you do!
That’s the FIRST thing you assume!
Jim Lehrer, wake up!
If you are a journalist, it’s your responsibility!
Skepticism should be your middle name, Jim, not DUH.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:44 pmALWAYS ASSUME HE IS LYING !!!
He has never ever spoken a truth, ever.
The list is just too long to post of his lies. Besides we all know them anyway.
Hating low life scum sucking repukian subhuman bottom feeders (Valiant Douche Bag, Patti 1″, BottomPervert, and of course the Pediphile) daily
May 11th, 2007 at 4:47 pmI assume this administration lies about EVERYTHING.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:53 pmPBS’s Jim Lehrer: “You don’t assume the president of the US is lying.â€
I do.
Wake up, Jim.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:08 pmI have to stop watching NewsHour.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:13 pmPatrick1,
Oxy5 or 10 will work on those big white ones you have. Once you have zapped them you can stop worrying about the acne and get back to drawing tanks.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:14 pmUh, … so …. why do we need you then, Jim?
To simply read what the President or Vice President or some other member of the administration said earlier in the day?
No need for ANY critical analysis?
Why don’t we just let which ever administration is in power hire their own media coordinator to gather up favorable and flattering video clips and sound bites and upload them to all of the “seemingly” independent stations.
Each station can then hire some high school kid from the AV club to cue it up and say “Here is what the President (or Vice President or Secretary of State, etc.) said earlier today … ”
When it is over he or she can conclude by saying “So there you have it. What he said … Goodnight.”
It does not even have to be about assuming a lie.
How about a little “Curiosity 101″ Jim?
For example …
“Gee … the administration says we will be greeted as liberators. Really? By all of them? What about the Sunnis? The over 6 or 7 million Sunnis? What if just 20,000 or 50,000 of the 6 or 7 million Sunnis do not take very well to being “flipped” to being a religious minority without Saddam’s protection and all of the power and benefits that came with that?
Hmmm, I read somewhere (The Christian Science Monitor) that Iraq is armed to the gills. Gee whiz … nevermind being greeted as liberators … these armed Sunni guys could be trouble … I don’t know … Just a thought … Just a little CURIOSITY about what is being said by the administration … Maybe they are WRONG about this …just on logical grounds … I don’t know … just a thought …”
So Jim, and all of you other MSMs, first you start out with a little intellectual CURIOSITY and then you follow the trail that leads you to the fact they lied.
You MSM people get paid six and seven figures a year. There are kids in high school who do better research than you chumps.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:23 pmI’m not sure Reagan lied, he seemed to be unable to tell the difference between reality and fantasy.
Comment by david — May 11, 2007 @ 3:53 pm
Oh Reagan lied, but he was an actor so he was much better at it.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:35 pmWhat’s the larger context here? Is Jim criticizing the Emperor Chimp Bush? Or has he fallen into step with Faux News?
Comment by JesusChrist_GodOfWar — May 11, 2007 @ 4:00 pm
Lehrer’s excusing himself for laying down on the job. “Well I had to assume he was telling the truth.” Why Jim, because it was easier?
May 11th, 2007 at 5:38 pmComment by Patrick1 — May 11, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
Yes, because a blowjob (you really need one) is so much worse than starting a war.
Comment by Spudge_Boy — May 11, 2007 @ 4:12 pm
Unless he is very flexible, pigs will grow wings before Patrick1 gets a blowjob.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:46 pmI can always tell when Bush is lying. ALWAYS! His lips move! hehe
May 11th, 2007 at 5:52 pmAfter six straight years of lying, Jim, I think you do assume that this president is lying. Every time he moves his lips.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:54 pmPerhaps at one time, we would have agreed with him, at least until we learned otherwise (Watergate, Iran-Contra). Everything changed with the onset of George Bush. Now I always assume the president is lying, but more important — the media should assume the president is lying and challenge what he says; they might learn the truth that way.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:55 pmWhere is the skepticism of a good journalist — he may not assume the president is lying, but he should certainly investigate what the president says.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:57 pmLehrer, where were you in 2002?
Were you asking hard questions, or were you saying, ” Yes, Mr. president.”?
My Math teacher always said, “we don’t assume in here.”
May 11th, 2007 at 6:00 pmJim Lehrer went on to say ….’Well if the government says it, it’s got to be true’, …’ I don’t know of any professional journalist who believes that.”
May 11th, 2007 at 6:04 pmI think the correct approach to an interview, is to Not Assume Anything. If a reporter believes he is going to be lied to, he should skip the interview.
Bush doesn’t need Jim Lehrer to show that he is not believeable, he does that all by himself.
My Math teacher always said, “we don’t assume in here.â€
Comment by Joe
Well, good for him/her.
Whatever….
May 11th, 2007 at 6:04 pmJim Lehrer, I think, is completely right. You shouldn’t assume that the President is lying, even if though he is sometimes (the rest of the time he’s truthful, but very unhelpfully so), but you should make sure to independently verify his claims anyway. We ought to trust our government. Unfortunately, this administration has made it impossible to do so, but ideally, utopially, we ought to trust it — while verifying it to make sure that we can trust it.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:17 pmI assume that anytime a Politician speaks they are lying.
I’m surprised a learned journalist such as Jim Lehrer would think otherwise. Maybe journalists should try a little skepticism it might do the Country some good?
May 11th, 2007 at 6:24 pmAccording to the Clintonites, lying isn’t a crime even if its under oath.
What changed?
May 11th, 2007 at 6:27 pmWell that would be wishful thinking, now wouldn’t it?
Bush has lied and he admitted to lying. We know he not only lied about WMD but fabricated intelligense to support is boutique war in Iraq.
Bush is a liar by definition. Why is everyone afraid to say that Bush is a liar? Is it because they don’t wish to be wrong – they can’t be, there is documentation of Bush lies.
Would the person who has the goods on Bush’s AWOL status please come forward – Bush lied about that too.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:53 pmIt always feels nice to see Zooey take a shot at every word I say as if it’s that irrational. Thanks for your sarcastic, childish response.
My one-week thinkprogress commentary experiment is over. I have found that liberal websites do no better job at being inclusive with differing viewingpoints than do the crazy conservative sites.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:56 pmWatch me.
May 11th, 2007 at 7:46 pmMy one-week thinkprogress commentary experiment is over. I have found that liberal websites do no better job at being inclusive with differing viewingpoints than do the crazy conservative sites.
Comment by Joe
Ok. Buh-bye.
May 11th, 2007 at 8:27 pmSheesh, when the whole agenda is based on Straussian mass deception and there’s an Office of Special Plans as well a host of other info that we know about – why should we trust Bush and the neocons?
May 11th, 2007 at 10:07 pmI check my watch, look out the window, and call to verify even if he just says ‘good morning’.
May 11th, 2007 at 11:09 pm#62
“m12″
Take some “focus pills.”
The issue of the thread is why Jim Leher (like many in the MSM) did not have the intellectual curiosity to question whether the things the Bush administration said made sense.
Like the whole “we would be greeted as liberators” thing – even though many military and Middle East experts said that we wouldn’t be.
What has changed?
If Tim Russert and Chris Matthews and Brian Williams got half as worked up and questioned the whole “we will be greeted as liberators” thing like they did when Clinton got his blow job – the public’s education as to how this war would likely turn out would have been greatly enhanced.
What has changed?
The President Then: “I did not have sex with that woman … ”
The MSM Then: “Yes you did ! You did too ! You did have sex ! Yes you did ! A blow job is sex ! You had sex ! Yes you did! Oh my God! Oh my God ! You got a BLOW JOB ! ”
———–
The President in 2002 – 2003: “We will be greeted as liberators … ”
The MSM in 2002 – 2003: ” … Okay … ”
————
That’s what has changed.
May 12th, 2007 at 1:43 amSorry, meant “m12″ #61 .
May 12th, 2007 at 1:46 amI love TP but they took this quote way out of context. If you take the time to follow the link you will see what Lehrer meant. He isn’t saying you should believe the president all the time, he is saying that journalists do not work under the assumption that the government always lies. When we baselessly start attacking one of the few good journalists then we are as bad as the right wing nutjobs that claim all mainstream media has a liberal bias.
May 12th, 2007 at 4:38 amIt’s hardly a problem. Most journalists simply repeat what the President says, whether it’s a lie or not.
May 12th, 2007 at 6:56 amNo, you don’t “assume”. Instead, you take note of the indisputable truth that he did lie and continues to do so.
May 12th, 2007 at 10:37 amGee Jim ,I’m hoping you were quoted out of context here but didn’t this president lie to the aMERICAN PEOPLE on Your show while discussing the Fisa laws laws and his attorney generals violations of the BASIc constitutional rights of ALL AMeriCans with domestic wiretapping .
May 12th, 2007 at 12:20 pmDid n’t Bush say on the news hour something like …Nothing has changed Jim I want the American people to know that it still takes a court order to spy domestically ,while we now know that the government was actively collecting the phone and internet records of 100’s of 1000’s of American citizens and eavesdropped on citizens ( quakers ,activists ,environmentalists ect ) without court approval !
THATS A GROSS VIOLATION OF OUR RIGHTS WHICH GENERATIONS OF AMERICANS HAVE FOUGHT AND DIED FOR ,JIM !and a lie which was made on your show !
Political joke circa 1996: How can you tell when President Bush is lying? His lips are moving. – It’s funny cuz it’s true.
(heavy sigh) The more things change, the more they stay the same.
May 12th, 2007 at 6:51 pm