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Despite Promises To ‘End Earmarks,’ Giuliani’s Law Firm Sought Millions In Pork For Clients

GIULIANI: Oh, you have to end earmarks. I mean, the idea of anonymous spending of billions and billions and hundreds of billions of dollars is totally undemocratic and creates total unaccountability. You have to end earmarks.

But Giuliani’s own law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, has contributed to this explosion of spending. Bloomberg News reports:

In all, Bracewell & Giuliani sought federal earmarks for 14 companies this year, 11 of which hired the firm after Giuliani joined in March 2005, Senate records show.

That Giuliani day in and day out lies like a cheap rug at a flea market isn’t especially shocking. Yet at the same time its like he lives in a bubble where he thinks his lies will just stay his and his supporter’s little secret. The “internets” and the ability to fact check every claim he makes is as easy as typing a few words into your favorite search engine. The above isn’t a small lie either. It’s a two parter. he says that earmarks are bad when he and his clients have been all to happy to lobby for them. The second part is the assertion (at the link) that earmarks have gotten worse since Democrats gained a slight majority in the House of Representatives. Actually they’ve gone down 33%. Not perfect, but progress. What does it say about someone’s character and qualifications to hold the highest elected office in America that instead of simply saying that we’re making progress on earmarks, but we could do better, he uses a hypocritical fabrication and a blatantly false smear against the opposing party.

beach birdhouse 

I would might be tempted to think I’m against lying in all circumstances all the time. Don’t be silly. Lying is part and parcel of being human. The Truth About Lying - Our Lives Are Filled With Untruths. But Why Do We Lie, And How Can We Tell When Others Are Full of It? 

Take your average 10-minute conversation between two acquaintances. In that span, the average person will lie two to three times. That’s not cynicism. That’s science. And it’s ingrained in us at a young age, when we’re whipsawed between “honesty is the best policy” and “no matter what, tell Aunt Barbara you like her gift.”

“We’re always telling children you should tell the truth, and yet we’re also giving them the message that it’s absolutely fine to lie,” says Robert Feldman, associate dean at the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Massachusetts. “At a very early age we’re getting these conflicting messages about honesty, and for some people it makes them more prepared to be deceptive later in life.”

The writer uses an example like I would have used. If I’m having one of my life is absurd and meaningless mornings and you ask me how I’m doing, I’m not going to tell you the truth. I’m going to force a little smile, say fine and ask how you’re doing. Telling the truth in that situation would have consequences that would involve me feeling even worse for burdening someone with all that existential baggage when they just wanted to be nice. This still doesn’t let Rudy off the hook. Presidents make life altering decisions, nation altering decisions. Even a president you like isn’t going to make great decisions all the time or tell the truth all the time, but the kinds of lies that he has told over and over again cross the lie from polite everyday lies to reflections on his judgment. The judgment, the set of principles he draws on to make decisions that will effect millions of Americans and others around the world. I don’t think you can take all the lies out of politics anymore then you can out of our daily lives, but politicians have to get them down to mole hill level rather then the Mount Giuliani level.