How often have we seen a political ad which ends with the phrase “…I’m _____ and I approve this message”? There is no truth in advertising. The only thing that is true about some advertisements is the identity of the person spewing the lies.

Consumer have learned that: 

Wrinkles creams only work if you could airbrush your face after using them.

98% of women don’t have venereal disease.

Soap won’t prevent weight gain.

Pepsi won’t make you thin and beautiful.

Cigarettes are not good for your throat.

The JouJou Breast Supporter doesn’t “ give women relief from those swollen, painful meat sacks growing out of their freak chests” and it won’t cure cancer.

Unfortunately consumers aren’t nearly as savvy about political advertisements. Lawrence O’Donnell devoted an entire segment of his show to calling a lie, a lie.

Newt Gingrich has directly criticized Mitt Romney for his attack ads.  Newt said that these sort of negative “attack” ads dishonor the candidate, and the ads weaken the Republican Party, thereby helping President Obama.

Yet Newt Gingrich has engaged in attacks…like those he attacks. He slammed Rick Santorum for his fiscal record, telling CBS that the U.S. budget was balanced for four years on his watch as House speaker in the 1990s, but that Santorum, as part of the Senate leadership, “ran up” a $1.7 trillion deficit and voted five times to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

Rick Santorum has attacked Newt. 

Marco Rubio has attacked Newt Gingrich for his attack on Mitt Romney. 

Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner, has shown his propensity to lie, by attacking Barack Obama. Romney used a clip of Obama, quoting John McCain, as if he was speaking of his own policies. In what has been described as “brazen dishonesty,” Romney quotes Obama when he was quoting McCain saying “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”

This ad is the most prominent example of what’s actually been a consistent theme of Romney’s campaign against Obama. Whether it concerns the defense budget, Obama’s beliefs about American exceptionalism, who’s at fault for the lousy economy, the President’s calling Americans lazy, or supposedly unprecedented cuts to Medicare, Romney’s consistently run a campaign against the President that, even by the debased standards of national politics, is brazen in its dishonesty. If Romney represents the Republican Party, then they are a party of liars. Voters have learned that people selling something can’t be trusted, and so far the claims of the Republican candidates are as believable as JouJou’s breast supporter preventing cancer.