It's an explosive speech that ranks with the great moments in American theater. After watching his family come apart, Big Daddy, the fed-up patriarch of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," shouts:
"What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice it, Brick? Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?"
We progressive Americans felt Big Daddy's pain as we watched the mendacity on display at last week's Republican National Convention in New York.
In case you missed the convention -- which, judging by the ratings, most of you did -- I found a copy of the script.
SPEAKER: September 11. Terrorism. September 11. Terrorism. Flip flopper. Terrorism. September 11. Michael Moore. Thank you and good night!
Yet pandering, boring as it is, was the least of the convention's offenses. A close analysis of the major speeches reveals a pattern of mendacity -- crimes against the truth meant to deceive.
Without further ado, I present the GOP's seven most mendacious claims.
Early in his remarks, President Bush touted his tax cuts. "Because we acted, our economy is growing again, and creating jobs," he said.
Mendacity. Since the tax cuts, job creation has been meager, at best. Fresh Labor Department numbers show population growth is still outpacing job growth. What's more, the new jobs pay far less than the old ones.
Bush also praised his record on education. "We're identifying those who need help ... and challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations," he said.
Mendacity. Bush has failed to fund America's schools. In the last two years, he has under-funded the No Child Left Behind reforms by $16 billion.
Florida Senate candidate Mel Martinez said, "Now because of President Bush, seniors are finally getting help with the cost of their prescription drugs."
Mendacity. Washington Republicans did all they could to shrink the drug bill -- the branchild of Senator Ted Kennedy, not Bush.
No speaker spouted mendacity like Georgia Senator Zell Miller. "Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security," he said.
Mendacity. The next day, under a headline that read "GOP Prism Distorts Kerry Positions," the Washington Post said that these "cuts" Kerry favored were routine post Cold War defense reductions, many of which were supported by then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.
The Republicans' crimes with the truth were most evident, and most dangerous, on issues of war and peace.
Dick Cheney claimed that Bush has reduced the nuclear threat. "The biggest threat we face today is having nuclear weapons fall into the hands of terrorists," he said. "The world's worst source of nuclear weapons proliferation is out of business, and we are safer as a result."
Mendacity. Under Bush, Iran has started a nuclear program. North Korea has continued theirs. These programs are a result of Bush's policies, according to the Center for American Progress and other observers. They threaten our security.
"Do I forget the lessons of September 11 and take the word of a madman, or do I take actions to defend our country?" said Bush, as he tried to draw a link between Iraq and al-Qaida.
Mendacity. No such link exists. No independent reports, including the 9/11 Commission's staff reports, bear out this false claim.
"The terrorists know," he said. "They know that a vibrant, successful democracy at the heart of the Middle East will discredit their radical ideology of hate ... freedom is on the march."
Mendacity. Under Bush, it is not freedom but terrorism that is on the march. According to the State Department, terrorism is up since we invaded Iraq. Bush's Middle East wars have not created two free states. They have created two failed states.
In his rant against mendacity in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," Big Daddy asked, "There's nothing to live with but mendacity. Is there?"
John Kerry has fifty-five days to convince America that there is.
