Spinning Everything

For John, BLUF:  i accept that the job of the Press Secretary is to spin the story, but there has to be a strong vein of truth or no one will buy the spin.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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If Joe Biden’s Team Will Lie About His Dog Biting People, What Won’t They Lie About?

Here is the sub-headline:

The White House press secretary showed once again that the administration has misled us even about small things since the very beginning.

From The Federalist, by Attorney John Lucas, 30 August 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Jen Psaki’s press conference last Friday illustrated how she, and by extension, her boss, the president, have continued to destroy their credibility with the American people. The White House press secretary showed once again that the administration has misled us even about small things since the very beginning. And if they will lie to us about small things, then they will lie about big things.

In common law, there is an expression, “Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.” It means “false in one thing, false in everything.” It is a principle judges have used for centuries to instruct juries on how to evaluate the truthfulness of witnesses’ testimony.

Psaki’s performance on Friday provided another example of that maxim. With no visible trace of irony or self-awareness, she attempted to pass off a blatant evasion as a responsive and truthful answer. It illustrated why we cannot believe anything this president or his administration says.

On Friday, a reporter from The New York Post asked Psaki why anyone should believe her and the administration about big things when they don’t tell the truth about small things. He illustrated his point by asking about a misleading briefing Psaki gave on March 9, on a relatively insignificant matter.

Then, less than two months into the administration, Psaki responded to a question about an incident when the president’s younger dog, Major, had bitten a Secret Service agent. At that March 9 briefing, Psaki misleadingly glossed over the incident as a minor matter caused by the fact that the dogs were still getting acclimated to the White House. She identified only a single bite one day earlier, saying that “on Monday” (the previous day), Major had been “surprised by an unfamiliar person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury”.

The dog bit eight people, not just one.

The author quotes Aesop:

A liar will not be believed even when he speaks the truth.

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Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff