And to Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street

Recidivism is a word most often reserved for criminals or sexual predators. But there is such a disturbing pattern of repeated and outlandish embellishment by Democratic leaders that the word comes to mind. Al Gore just cannot help himself, at various times claiming to have invented the Internet and that the male protagonist in "Love Story" was based on him. Of course, the wildly exaggerated and spurious claims throughout "An Inconvenient Truth" have been well documented so there is no need to repeat them here.

How about John Kerry, and his Winter Soldier testimony before Congress on the atrocities committed by our troops in Vietnam? These claims have been systematically shown to be fabrications. In fact, many if not most of the Winter Soldiers stories were made up by people that did not even serve in Vietnam, or served in different roles with different ranks in different places than they claimed. How about John Kerry insisting that he was in a firefight with the Viet Cong in Cambodia on Christmas eve? His commanding officer and most of the men he served with called him a liar, a charge which he has never successfully refuted.

Bill Clinton has a long and distinguished record of lying about his endless affairs, including the most famous, Ms. Lewinsky (an interesting side note: Hillary's just released White House schedule shows that she was at the White House when the most infamous of the Lewinsky liaisons occurred).

Now comes Hillary. Her repeated account of landing in Bosnia under sniper fire has been unceremoniously debunked since CBS released video footage of the event. Hillary's claim to have been instrumental in the Irish peace process has been similarly assailed.

What is interesting in all of these examples is that when challenged with evidence to the contrary, they continue to insist that the stories are true. Hillary doggedly repeated the Bosnian tale, with Hillary more Rambo-like with each telling. This was even after numerous people, including travel companion comedian Sinbad, said it did not happen the way Hillary described. Only after video came out with Hillary participating in a large, and peaceful, ceremony on the tarmac being presented flowers by an 8 year old Bosnian girl did she and her campaign reluctantly admit to "misspeaking".

In this day and age of 24/7 news coverage and cameras on every cell phone it amazes me that these politicians think they can get away with these preposterous stories. I reminds me a lot of teens that beat up some other kid, post the video on the Internet, and subsequently get arrested. Hillary, and Al, and John Kerry and Bill Clinton are all intelligent people, but they continue to commit these gaffs. There must be another explanation - they just can't help themselves. Even when they get caught, they do it again and again - recidivism.

Perhaps I am having a conservative blind spot, but I am having a hard time coming up with parallels in the GOP. I can't think of Ronald Reagan embellishing his accomplishments. John McCain has a long and distinguished career as a U.S. Senator, and is the anti-John Kerry when it comes to Vietnam service. George W. Bush may have gotten special favors to serve in the National Guard, but he didn't lie about it (sorry Dan Rather).

George H. W. Bush was a true WWII hero, surviving 58 combat missions as a Navy pilot and winning the Distinguished Service Cross. He was shot down over the Pacific and was rescued by a submarine. Before becoming President, "Bush 41" served in the U.S. House of Representatives, was Liaison to China, Ambassador to the U.N., and Director of the CIA. None of these GOP leaders had to embellish their experiences. They were genuine leaders and heroes.

If anyone can help me out with some examples please post a reply. Of course all politicians need to be viewed with skepticism. It is a profession that seems to appeal to liars and cheats. In the meantime, the Democrat's outlandish claims of achievement seem an awfully lot like the Dr. Seuss tale, "And to Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street". It makes you wonder if anything else they say is true?