Chip,

Why is it that conservatives are so helplessly addicted to lies? Seriously, this may sound like hyperbole, but I cannot remember when I have seen a widely circulated conservative talking point that wasn’t, at it’s root, based on an outright lie or a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts.

Case in point – your hit and run ‘chip shot’ about the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. The 3500 acres was, in fact, closed due to security concerns (AND for construction of the border fence, which is left out). So far only a 1/2 lie – not bad.

Here’s the juice – the area was closed and the signs posted IN OCTOBER OF 2006! Now HOW did the Obama administration cede land before he even announced his candidacy for President?

It takes about 17 1/2 seconds of dilligent research to uncover this fact but don’t feel bad for fallng for it; millions of others were gleefully deceived by that particular piece of journalistic excrement. I haven’t found where the 3 1/2 year old event was originally resurrected and extemporaneously miscast to attack Obama. The FOX news story of June 15 was an early player and the countless replications of it’s content, with even more selective editing employed to additionally skew reality, have gone viral. The Genie’s out of the bottle, so to speak.

The only remaining question is what do YOU do about it. Does the truth matter? Should we limit our potential political gains by confining our arguments and accusaions to facts? Maybe you post a feeble retraction, maybe you simply, quietly remove the piece.

My suggestion; Think of what you might do if that little bit of mythology had originated within and been propogated by the left, in accusation of a Conservative President. I’d wager that it would merit a multi-page expose filled with detailed dissection of the lie and the obligatory generalizations about how such mendacity is typical of the left, something in the tone of your hit-piece on Pelosi.

As a Christian, wouldn’t you be obligated to treat others as you would be treated? So I look forward to a full, detailed report on the Buenos Aires Myth, it’s origins, propogation and how both generally indict the morality of the Right, which has engaged in and benifited so much from the distribution of this farce.

It seems to me that you must either prepare and post an excoriation of FOX, numerous blogs and yourself for participating in this hoax. That or admit that your ethics, morality and outrage are strictly one-sided, and like your principles, are selectively applied, as needed to attack your enemies and defend your friends.

This story along with a handful of other myths and conflations have generated the impression that the current administration is sitting on it’s hands with regard to immigration, with obvious electoral benefits anticipated. Are those benefits worth it? To become the party of lies and liars?

The myths of inaction gain traction through repitition, despite the fact that a great deal is being done; newly implemented ‘payroll raids’ are capturing more illegally employed workers than were caught in physical raids, that IEC funding is up 30%, Border patrol numbers are up similarly with total agents now over 20,000 (16,000 of which are on the southern border), violent crime is actually DOWN in Arizona per the latest FBI stats and the Administration has canned the $6 billion dollar boondogle of the virtual fence to divert the money to areas where the Border Patrol said it would do the most good. The physical fence construction continues.

But, why let any of that get in the way of a good talking point? Sometimes principles are just to cumbersome to be carried up political mountains, I guess.

In your comment on don’t believe the liberal lies you suggest that the 1st Amendment is only binding on Congress, and not on the states. Would it be acceptable for a state then, to order everyone in the state to become a Moslem, or a Roman Catholic, or some other religion or some other denomination, or be subject to fines and imprisonment? It seems to me that the intent of the founders was that the situation in many European states regarding those kinds of abuses should not be allowed in this new country or it would be no better than Europe.