Rep. George Santos (R-Atlantis) is fortunate that he is surrounded by so many liars, hypocrites and fabulists that it is difficult to give him the attention and contempt that he deserves. The Clintons have been mercifully quiet lately, but George has still been fortunate in the culture that surrounds him.

For example, today President Biden (well, whoever he has authorized to tweet for him) once again invoked the oath “my word as a Biden,” declaring on Twitter, “My word as a Biden: I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future than I am today.” Maybe Joe is really optimistic: he is, after all, a dolt. However, as that meme above by Newsmax’s Greg Kelly illustrates, the word of the Biden swearing that mighty oath has the credibility of Jon Lovitz’s Tommy Flanagan. (I have many more recent Biden lies archived at Ethics Alarms, notably his claim that he has never discussed Hunter’s business dealings with his son.) The biggest lie in that tweet is that there is any reason to trust this President.

Then there is the hypocrisy of retired tycoon Bill Gates, who now flies around the world telling ordinary people to lower their carbon footprints. Here’s a clip from a recent “60 Minutes””:” highlighted on “The Rubin Report,” whatever that is:

I don’t see Gates as particularly angry, just ridiculous. Not is he the worst climate change hypocrite: as one wag noted, if the elite who just met in Switzerland to discuss saving the world were serious, they would have held their conclave via Zoom and, I’d add, not have hired a biased, disgraced fool like Brian Stelter as a panel moderator. Gates is still a fine representative of this arrogant, obnoxious and unethical club.

Back to Lyingland from a short side trip to Hypocrisy Heights: Rep. Ilhan Omar visited CNN Sunday morning to claim that the anti-Semitic comments she has made, cited by House Speaker McCarthy as the main reason she has been booted from the House Foreign Affairs committee, were innocent and accidental.

“I might have used words at the time that I didn’t understand were trafficking in anti-semitism,” she said, adding, “I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money. That has been a very enlightening part of this journey. To insinuate that I knowingly said these things when people have read into my comments to make it sound as if I have something against the Jewish community is so wrong.looking sincere.” 

Naturally, her CNN interviewer had neither the guts nor wit to respond by laughing in her face. I guess that would have been unprofessional: the response should have been “Just how stupid do you think we are?”
Omar has been sanctioned by her own party in the House for her anti-Jewish bigotry. Her reflex tactic when called out for one of her regular smears of Israel and the Jewish people is to apologize and swear she didn’t mean it, then to come right back and do it again. (Fool me once…”) Back in 2012, she tweeted, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Then she apologized. Later, when the pre-red-pilled Glenn Greenwald criticized “how much time U.S. political leaders spend defending” Israel, Omar replied, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!”—a cute double-meaning word play.

Yet today she said she, honest to goodness, cross her heart and hope to die, had never heard of Jews being stereotyped as sinister masters of the financial world, ruthless money-lenders, and characterized by greed and avarice. These tropes have inflamed anti-Jewish discrimination and oppression throughout history, back to the Middle Ages, and, studies have shown they still negatively influence the perception of Jews today, but nope, it was all news to her! If Omar really didn’t know about this, then she was too ignorant of history and culture to opine on any matters involving the Jews or Israel.

Of course, she did know. Her denial today has as much credibility as the previous governor of Virginia Ralph Northam’s claim, when a school yearbook photo of him in blackface surfaced, that he had only recently been informed that blackface was offensive to African-Americans. And yes, Omar does think we are stupid, because so many of us are.

I can’t leave the topic without including Donald Trump‘s 2024 campaign kick-off speeches yesterday, when he was in typical form. Lies, demagoguery or delusion? You decide….

• He called Biden’s  pullout from Afghanistan in 2021 “the lowest day in the history of our country.” Gee, I’d say there are a lot of American tragedies and disasters higher on the list, wouldn’t you?  The start of the Civil War, four presidential assassinations, the Tulsa race massacre, the Wall Street Crash of ’29, Pearl Harbor, the internment of Japanese Americans, the establishment of the blacklist, the 1968 Democratic Convention riots, the assassination of Rev. King, the Watergate scandal, the Roe v. Wade decision, the election of Jimmy Carter, the Challenger disaster, the September 11, 2001 bombings, the commencement of the second Iraq war based on faulty intelligence, the 2008 economic meltdown, the disastrous pandemic lockdown (under Trump)…I’m sure I missed few.
• Trump claimed that if he were President, there would be “a peace deal negotiated within 24 hours” to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” Yeah, because he is such a skilled diplomat.
• Just for nostalgia’s sake and to explode heads (his specialty), Trump reprised the statement that launched his Presidential bid in 2015 and that has been characterized since, saying again that Mexico is “sending [us] people that are killers, murderers, they’re sending rapists.” It’s not a lie, just a gross, gross, generalization. And it misses the undeniable and critical reason the open Southern border is wrong and intolerable: the people crossing it are breaking our laws. Trump’s ham-handed description allows Democrats to duck the real issue and focus on “xenophobia.”