This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple wrote that Fox News host Tucker Carlson said something revealing on a podcast last fall: “When I’m cornered, I lie.”

On one hand, I hate to quote Carlson because that’s what he wants – the sometimes adulation of being quoted.

But, his quote is noteworthy. 

For it describes the motivation, not just of Carlson, but also of such polarizing figures as Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, and their ilk.

When cornered, they lie.

It’s what comes naturally.

Look only at what McCarthy said when he was quoted as having come close to asking Trump to resign, or at least intervene, as the January 6 insurrection threatened the U.S. Capitol and Trump appeared to urge demonstrators to do even more.

No, McCarthy averred in strong terms, I did not say that.

Well, he was caught.  The New York Times writers had a tape of what he said and what they wrote was exactly right.  McCarthy said it.

So, when cornered, he lied.

He learned this from the one he admires, Trump.

Consider this.

The Washington Post’s Fact Checker column said Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president.  Nearly half came in his final year.

When cornered, he lied.

If, like me, you have ever wondered how persons like Trump and McCarthy could do what they do and say what they say, the quote reveals all.  Their first impulse is to lie and they do it so often it is hard to believe them at any point.

Lying explains a lot and says volumes about what is wrong with politics in this country.  Trump deserves much of the debit.