Hypocrisy and Bloviation

In the 19th century, the commment was "There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics." This comment has been attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Marshall, Mark Twain and probably-if you Google long enough-you can find it attributed to Whistler's Mother. It applied to politics, business, and other contact sports.

Nowadays, we have something different...it is the dynamic dueo of Hypocrisy and Bloviation

We all know about Hyprocrisy. The American Heritage dictionary defines it as: The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness (OR) An act or instance of such falseness.

Bloviate has many uses, generally about speaking pompously. But my favorite definition comes from WordNet, which gives the definition as to "orate verbosely and windily"...and, I might add, without adding much to the public debate.

I mention these things as I suspect we are about to be hit by a deluge of both as the congressional campaigns head into the homestretch...naturally, I am likely going to have the chance to chat about these in the weeks ahead.

Nope, I don't have a crystal ball...but I do have a r-e-a-l-l-y strong hunch