Lies are not debatable…

Watching the first Presidential debate this week, I couldn’t help thinking, “You can’t debate lies, not as long as the liar is allowed to keep lying.”

I suppose I should say up front that I don’t have a horse in this race. I won’t be voting for either Romney or Obama. Romney is a corporate stooge with no more conscience than a corporation. His disdain for the poor is only overshadowed by his Bushian incompetence so… No. As for President Obama, as much as I might want to like the man I cannot simply ignore his library of broken promises. Is Gitmo shut down? No. Did he keep his promise to respect state decisions on medical marijuana? No. And on and on. So, I can’t vote for either of them.

All the same, I feel it’s important to be politically educated and a part of that is watching these debates. In the end, however, all I watched was a white guy drown the nation in lies while the black guy stood speechless with this, “Are you really going to allow that?” look on his face. That look was directed to a moderator who was about as useful as the parts of Romney’s religion that tell him not to lie… or any religion at all for that matter.

President Obama began by mentioning the tax plan Romney has been selling for months now, which would devastate the nation. Romney responded with, “I never said that.” Obama waited for the moderate to step in and… you know… moderate. But he didn’t.

Now, listen, I understand that politicians lie. I get that. But what’s the point of having a moderator who refuses to do his job? The sad truth, of course, is that he couldn’t do his job. News outlets are beholden to politicians, at the holy alter of ACCESS, so they don’t dare offend anyone and everything has to be equal lest there be any hint of favoritism… even to the facts.

I know there will be plenty of people who gloat at Romney’s so-called victory, if it’s possible to be a victor and a liar at the same time. There will be those who say, “He got away with it!” with a kind of glee. I get that. I don’t like it but I get that.

But what’s the point of having debates when one party can just make shit up? Romney never did give specifics about his economic plan but he might as well have said it was a “Magic Mormon Mincantation.” He would have probably got away with it.