I think Bush is pathologically incapable of admitting any mistake or wrongdoing, no matter how small. The lying is one of those things he will never admit.

But the funny thing about lying is that everyone does it. Philosophers and social scientists have come to quite a nuanced understanding of lying which few media outlets seem ever to discuss, and which few people think much about. But everyone has internalized some rules about lying which we use to filter the world around us.

Essentially, lies can either be material or immaterial (that is, they can matter or not matter in a practical sense), and they can be harmful, helpful or neutral. An immaterial lie would be like a President saying "I am wearing green socks" when he is actually wearing black socks. It just doesn't matter.

The reason many liberals and conservatives disagree about Bush and Clinton is not that one side condones lying and the other does not, it's that we have different ideas about the materiality and harmfulness of the lies. Bush's followers think his lies about WMD were HELPFUL rather than harmful, because "Saddam was a mad, mad, mad, mad man" and the lies helped Bush get rid of him. Liberals think Clinton's lies about Monica Lewinsky were IMMATERIAL rather than material, because they don't think his sex life has much bearing on his policy.

In both cases the opposing side disagrees; most liberals think Bush's lies were harmful because they think the war is unnecessary, and many conservatives think that Clinton's lies were material because they think his sex life showed he had no moral fiber and thus was unsuited to be president.

Because deep down we know that everyone sometimes lies, and because we have internalized rules of materiality and harmfulness, arguments about "he lied, she lied" are always really about what they lied about, and the lying itself is never actually the issue. Despite the Clinton-Bashers' mantra of "it's not the sex! He Lied to the American People," it was ALWAYS about the sex. No one would impeach a president just because he said he had green socks on. Smae with Bush, it's not that he lied, it's what he lied about.

Many Americans have some kind of cultural imperative to pretend we never lie, and to act as though lying in itself were always morally reprehensible. So the arguments usually sound feeble: "your guy lied!" "Oh, yeah, well your guy lied about something else!" We're really arguing about the something else, not the lying part.

Interesting about the mustard gas, Guest from NW.