I’m not going to redo all of the posts from yesterday, but here are some of the top links:
To sum up–beyond the issue of lying about a fellow Party Member–remember, Ryan called McCulloch a liar which we now know McCulloch must have seen the full file–though some specifics might be off, Ryan lied to nearly everyone on an issue that could have easily been dealt with as Oberweis even did.
Second, if Ryan was scared of the file becoming public, he could easily have been blackmailed.
Finally, these rules from Rich Miller should be stapled to the head of every candidate in the United State:
Lesson No. 1: Reporters and the public are always more intrigued by sealed, concealed or hidden information than stuff that is right out in the open.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Oberweis went through a bitter divorce right before the primary, but you didn’t read about it because Oberweis never tried to hide anything. The Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, wrote a book several years ago that talked about some of his youthful indiscretions, including occasional drug use. It hasn’t been a political problem because Obama came clean in a direct and forthright manner. Disclose early, and disclose completely.
Lesson No. 2: Don’t flat-out lie about potentially embarrassing things that can be proved false. Up until the very end, Ryan could never bring himself to tell the truth. When the records did come out, Ryan compounded the lie by claiming he had never told political leaders that there was nothing embarrassing in his files. When those same political leaders contradicted him, he was formally outed as a serial prevaricator.
Once you are proved to be a deliberate liar, nobody will ever believe you again about anything. Just look at the media coverage of Bill Clinton’s new autobiography, if you want proof. It’s all about the Monica.
DISCLOSE PEOPLE!