Romney and Twain: Revisiting The Decay of the Art of Lying

“No high-minded man, no man of right feeling, can contemplate the lumbering and slovenly lying of the present day without grieving to see a noble art so prostituted.”– Mark Twain in his essay “The Decay of the Art of Lying”

By Alexandra Rosen

Romneyand the Art of Lying

Mark Twain would have laughed to hear the low quality of Mitt Romney’s lies. I am a firm believer that Mark Twain would have had a fine time pointing out the many flaws in Romney’s speeches and somehow still managing to make Romney feel flattered. He might even give Romney some suggestions as to how to improve his lies for the fun of it. While Mitt Romney may want to take control over women’s bodies and change health-care policies, all the while changing his mind mid-speech and saying things contrary to his running-mate’s assertions, he would probably be glad to think that Twain considered that “adults and wise persons never speak [the truth]”.

If Romney wants to be called Mr. President so badly, then why is he lying so poorly? A really good candidate tells lies that everyone wants to hear, not just his own party-members’. Mark Twain considered the ability to tell what we now call little white lies to be one of the most important virtues a person can have. He termed it “courteous lying” saying that “the highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of graceful and gilded forms of charitable and unselfish lying”.

Romney isn’t lying unselfishly or courteously, he’s just lying. While Twain may admit and condone the fact that everyone lies, Romney has obvoiusly not been”[trained]…to lie thoughtfully”.

If you’d like to see a list of Mr. Romney’s lies and why his lies are wrong see PolitiFact.com/Romney

For an account of President Obama

And a bunch of other flaming hot lies

This was too much fun to write, I love you all!