Please Stop Lying to Me

When we were young children, most of us were taught that lying is wrong. It is morally wrong, hurtful and down right insulting to the person being lied to.

I disagree with a number of the positions of the current Republican Party. Disagreement is fine, it is healthy and good. That is, after all, the most wondrous part of our democratic system.

However, lying and disagreement are two distinctly different things. So, I implore the GOP—a party I have historically supported—to stop lying to me and to the American people. It is annoying, dangerous and down right offensive.

Bobby Jindal, the current Governor of Louisiana and the supposed rising star of the GOP delivered an uninspiring and frustrating rebuttal to President Obama’s February 24, 2009 address to the joint session of Congress. In fact, Governor Jindal’s rebuttal was down right offensive and continues the recently developed GOP tradition of bold lies and blatant misrepresentation of core facts.

1. The stimulus bill DOES NOT include funding for a high speed train to run between Las Vegas and Disneyland. The stimulus bill DOES include $8 billion for mass transit construction. The bill does not specify that these funds will be spent on high-speed train construction and certainly does not specify a train that would run between Las Vegas and Disneyland. Various projects and regions are competing for shares of the $8 billion. The Las Vegas/Disneyland project, which did receive $45 million in funding for an initial environmental impact study from President George W. Bush, is far from a lock.

2. Hurricane Katrina delivered unimaginable devastation to millions within the state of Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states. Millions have behaved bravely and selflessly in the aftermath of the disaster. But, Mr. Jindal please do not suggest to me that the Federal Government did not have a key role in facilitating Hurricane Katrina recovery. Granted, much of Katrina recovery was botched in the short-term and the longer-term after the storm under leadership from a Republican president and ill-prepared Louisiana state officials. But the Federal Government has spent $175 billion on Katrina Recovery.

Recovery spending was 110% necessary, but let’s not imply that it did not happen. Yes, government (especially poorly run government) messes things up at times. The federal government, under President Bush, certainly failed to respond effectively to Katrina in numerous ways. However, let’s stop blaming the “concept” of appropriate federal government and start blaming poor management and poor leadership.

(link to full text of Govenor Jindal's speech is listed at the end of this post)


3. “That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families, cutting taxes for small businesses, strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers, and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs. But Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach.” (quote from Governor Jindal’s 2/24/09 rebuttal speech)

Just a minor point, Mr. Jindal. $288 billion in tax cuts were included in the stimulus bill. Nearly all of the tax cuts requested above were included in the bill.

(links to outline of tax cuts in stimulus bill and Full American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are included at the end of this post)


I am all for alternative ideas. Given the current economic crisis. we need all of the good ideas we can get. But, lying to and misleading the American people is counter-productive and dangerous. Not all of our citizens are as obsessive as I am. Many American citizens do not peck away like a crazy person at their computers during and after important political addresses to fact check fishy sounding claims.

We are free to disagree with each other—that is what makes the country great. But let’s respect each other enough; let’s love our country enough to conduct honest debates rooted in facts.


Text of Bobby Jindal’s full rebuttal speech
Outline of tax cuts in the stimulus bill
Full American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009