I must admit it, I am addicted to the truth. The truth and nothing but the truth. The last Presidential election had two candidates and one of them, Mitt Romney used to drive me crazy because he would change his story several times during the same day, even when the reporter pointed out the inconsistency. Now, I know you are thinking that all politicians lie. Well, there is a difference between fudging the truth or exaggerating and just plain telling a whopper, a big fat lie.

And where is the media in all of this? They are absent without leave. With few exceptions, they, the press, refuse to confront politicians with the truth. You would think that if it was to be anyone’s responsibility to make a politician pay dearly for telling a lie it would be the press. After all, the poor voter is subject to these lies and who is going to tell us the truth if not for the press. Who’s going to believe anything that is said if we do not have a watch dog to oversee what is said.

During this election the press has been woefully lacking in courage with a few exceptions. You may ask why would this be the case? Money, is the answer. In a tragic commentary of how low we have gone, the Chairman of CBS, Les Moonves said in reference to the coverage Trump was receiving, ” It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”

Lies should be unacceptable. There is a watchdog of sorts, Politifact.com. They have won the Pulitzer. They take statements and make a judgment on them.

BERNIE SANDERS

True    12 (15%)

Mostly True  28 (36%)

Half True      15  (19%)

Mostly False 12  (15%)

False              11 (14%)

No pants on fire

Donald Trump

True     3 (3%)

Mostly True 7 (6%)

Half True     17 (15%)

Mostly False 19 (16%)

False              49 (42%)

Pants on Fire  22 (19%)

The political facts web site might surprise you by their analysis. You would think from the media’s slant on things that Hillary Clinton would have fared far worse but for all intents and purposes both she and Bernie Sanders were very close in their truthfulness. Donald Trump, however, was by far the worst in telling the truth. For his followers whether he tells the truth or not does not seem to matter. The problem is that for those who plan on voting for Donald Trump, they do not trust the media and sadly for many of those there is nothing you can say to change their minds.

For Hillary Clinton the perception of who she is and what she says regarding truthfulness is set in the minds of certain voters. The reality for some voters is that she is a liar, even though her statements are no worse than any of her competitors.

The saintly Bernie Sanders has a few blemishes on his resume but no matter for his legions of followers he can do no wrong nor say anything that is not true.

All in all one hopes that the truth will not be a victim to partisanship but sadly it does. For the voters we can only hope that the Press, can actually show some courage and be the honest and trustworthy referee that we deserve.