Reply #121: The Costanza Defense in action!

[jane_pippin]

If he were to say something that you knew was a bald faced lie--say, "green in traffic lights means stop," as an example--but he just said it like he believed it to be so true that the thought that he could be wrong isn't even a possibility for him, would you still count his believing in what he says a virtue? What if he did it a lot?

What if every single day, he walked out into the rose garden, confident as can be, telling you things like "cars are powered by Pepsi-Cola," or "babies are made by Sears," what then?

Now, replace these preposterous examples with "Saddam...has sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," or "We're going to get Osama," or "I'm a uniter, not a divider." How can you find this behavior acceptable from the leadership of this country? I'm sure he believed the hell out of those things when he said them. Doesn't make any of them true though.

The Costanza Defense! It's not a lie if George believes it!