Mendacity

On the are they stupid? or are they lying? scale, I tend to lump Newt Gingrich into the "lying" category. On The Daily Show last night he claimed the reason it was okay to "Mirandize" the Shoe Bomber but not the Underwear Bomber was because the Shoe Bomber was an American citizen. That is not true, as Jon Stewart made clear later in the show. The Shoe bomber is a British citizen. The real takeaway from this exchange is that, you can be sure, The Daily Show is the only place on television where Newt Gingrich would be caught in this mistake lie and called on it before the half-hour was up. It is unimagineable that David Gregory would correct the record in such manner on Meet the Press.