Seven Big Lies About Lying

If Edith Wharton lived in the Age of Innocence, surely we now live in the Age of Deception. Lying seems to have taken center stage in the lives of our political leaders. Last week former presidential candidate John Edwards was indicted for misappropriation of campaign funds and lying about it -- concealing his extramarital affair and his illegitimate child along the way. Another recent potential presidential candidate, Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, forfeited all chance at the Oval Office by having an affair with an Argentine woman and lying about the use of state funds to fly down to South America for romps with her while claiming he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Bodybuilder-turned movie star-turned governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger dominated tabloid headlines three weeks ago with the disclosure of his illegitimate child.

Now follows New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, whose comical name and clumsy dishonesty have so enraged the U.S. media. Only three years earlier, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer had to resign after his hotel trysts with high-priced call girls came to light. About that same time, Bernard Madoff scammed $65 billion via his gargantuan Ponzi scheme and led a cavalcade of lesser Ponzi artists to the courts for cheating and lying. Sports stars routinely lie as well, whether about illegal performance-enhancing drug use or their own sexual conquests, as we learned with A-Rod and Tiger Woods. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has recently been charged with assaulting a maid in a Manhattan hotel room. He denies the charges and claims the sex was consensual. Is he lying? We don't know yet.

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