In today's world of social networking, 24-hour news channels and instant fact-checking, authenticity in a political figure, his/her character, past, reputation and accomplishments, the truth about those things matter more today than the actual substance of their claims.
Whether a politician cheated on his wife or raised taxes or was pro-choice before he/she was pro-life doesn't matter as much as that politicians propensity to be honest about his past. You did cheat on your wife? Admit it. You did believe in Climate Change? Admit it. Whatever a politician running for public office does - do NOT lie.
There's an old refrain that says, the way you know a politician is lying is if their lips are moving. Hilarious. So when congressman Anthony Weiner vehemently denied that the sexually explicit photos that were alleged to be his were in fact his, he broke the rules - he lied.
America might have forgiven Weiner if he had from the very beginning just been honest and fessed up to the pictures being his. Instead, through the power of Twitter trending topics, blog posts going viral, he was forced to resign and ultimately admit what everyone already knew - he lied.
Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain now faces the same dilemma. At the beginning of the week, ANOTHER woman stepped forward and alleged sexual misconduct on the part of Herman Cain. This time at least it wasn't harassment, it was a consentual 13-year affair. What did Herman Cain do? Denied it. He's denying it the same way he denied all the other sexual harassment allegations.
How does he explain the 4:29AM text messages this new accuser showed her local TV news station? He calls her "just a friend that he was trying to help financially." Yes, phone calls and text messages from all hours of the day, day and night.
Yeah right.
Where there's smoke there's fire.
As a result of the growing possibility that Cain is lying about something - anything. He's dipped in all of the presidential polls. And who are the conservative voters leaning to now? Newt Gingrich.
Yes, that's right. Conservative voters are going from supporting a man that has just been ACCUSED of sexual dishonesty - all alleged, nothing proven. To supporting a man that has had TWO affairs while married. Two different wives, two different affairs.
The difference? Newt Gingrich didn't try and lie. He didn't play with semantics in his press conferences. He claimed to have "a moment of weakness" - GOLDEN. Nonetheless, he admitted it. He was "honest." He owned up to his mistakes. America forgave him.
The same Newt Gingrich that sat next to then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a couch to address the fact that although they usually disagree on most things they "agree that climate change is real" and something had to be done about it. Now, running for President in a party that passionately denies Climate Change, pretty much laughing at the idea itself, what does Newt Gingrich say about the commercial?
"It was a mistake." He gets on national television, enters Bill O'Reily's "No Spin Zone" and flat out admits that it was "one of the biggest mistakes" of his political career.
Just like that, conservative America has forgiven newt Gingrich, completely overlooked his flip-flop and has made him the number one contender in the Republican nomination process. Regardless of his political positions, why do conservatives rank him at the top of their list , among other things -AUTHENTICITY. (regardless of how hypocritical he may be)
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