Vietnam

[Dan Goncharoff]

Is there an easy way to differentiate between someone who occasionally,
in a limited number of instances, lies, as opposed to someone who has
fabricated his biography consistently over a long period of time?

They both appear to be liars, which is not helpful. Calling the
occasional lies "misstatements" doesn't work for me, as it implies the
lies were unintentional, which in my hypothetical example is not the case.

DanG

On 5/19/2010 10:12 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> It is certainly possible that Blumenthal might accidentally have said
> "served in" when he meant "served during," but my opinion is that he could
> have and should have caught and corrected himself.  In that split second he
> chose not to.
>
> It would, of course, be far worse if - as some have done - he'd manufactured
> a fake Vietnam service record.  Whether a politician's "mere" rhetorical
> sleaze is enough to neutralize his actual accomplishements in office is, of
> course, another issue.

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