Our culture of lies

In The Nation, Eric Alterman examines the problems the media have in dealing with the Bush administration's contempt for the truth, most recently exemplified in the president's explanation for why he dissembled about his plans to replace Don Rumsfeld at the Pentagon:

"I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question, and to get you on to another question, was to give you that answer."

But it isn't only Bush. Deception is ingrained in the culture. When we're not busy fooling each other, we're busy fooling ourselves.