All politicians lie.  But currently, only the Republican party proudly promotes lies and deceptions as its policy.

A few days ago, I wrote about the “2.5 million unemployed by Obamacare” lie they are peddling.

I now see that that they are claiming that “Obama caused the government shutdown.”

Here’s how it really went down:

“Hey, President Obama!  It’s us, the Republicans!  Remember how we voted against Obamacare but it still passed?  And how we challenged it in court and lost?  And how we nominated a candidate who ran on a platform of repealing it and he lost?  And how we voted 42 times to repeal it, losing each time?  And how we have tried to defund it and lost?  

Well, we now demand that despite all this, you defund it and thus kill it, or else we will shut down the government.  No?  Okay, you asked for it!

Look, everyone!  We, the Republicans, have shut down the government until Obama gives us what we want!  We’re proud of this accomplishment!

Okay, Obama, now will you defund it?  No?  Well, will you cut the budget in a few places?  No?  Will you  at least cut this one thing?  No?

Wait a minute … the American people hate this.  Our poll numbers are lower than they have been in the history of poll numbers.  

Okay, fine, you can reopen the government.

Wow, the public really hates us.  Guess we have to use our old standby policy to get out of this one.  Everyone, ready?  Good. Start lying.

Obama caused the shutdown!!!”

Fortunately, rational and reasonable people are laughing at this.  Here’s a nice video of journalist Bob Schieffer giggling uncontrollably when Ted Cruz claimed that Obama caused the shutdown:

… And here is an article from last December where Ted Cruz brags about causing the shutdown.

This is just outright lying, isn’t it?  I mean, is there another explanation?

Despite what some defenders claim, this is not the same thing as picking and choosing which facts to highlight when pushing your agenda.  It’s not the same thing as “spinning.”  It’s not even the same thing as not pursuing your campaign promises.  This is lying as policy.  To defend this is despicable.  (And I applaud those Republicans who are refusing to follow the party line here.)

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss the current GOP strategy of creating fake fraudulent websites designed to purposely mislead people into thinking they are donating to Democratic candidates.   I am not making this up.