“I understand they are going to have “fact checkers” standing by (at the debate)— just in case either candidate happens to say something factual.” —Jay Leno

News Flash! Candidates caught lying during last week’s presidential debate! Want me to list the lies? Sorry, not happening! Just Google a replay of last Wednesday’s match—they’re easy to spot—every time your man moves his lips, he’s lying.

Are you surprised? Shocked? Flabbergasted? Incredibly naive? If you’re any of the first three, you’re for sure the fourth. Truly; ‘honest politician’ is the oxymoronest of oxymorons. To even suggest that your man is honest—regardless of his conduct in the private sector—is to believe a fairytale.

Politicians lie, it’s their thing. And, by the way, the larger we grow the government, the deeper it penetrates our daily lives, and the more we inspire the worst sort of intellectual dishonesty, in politicians and, sadly, in us. The most ardent small-government-advocate of a citizen can be swayed when a bit of legislation tilts the playing field in his direction. It happens all the time; deficit spending is a bad thing, that is until some of it lands on your doorstep. Therefore, alas, it’s us—we’re the problem. The politician is nothing more than a chameleon—he blends into the environment we create. Thus, he won’t even begin to change his colors until we change ours.

Of course it doesn’t help when a high profile Nobel laureate economist would impose his politics onto an unsuspecting public: NY Times columnist/economist Paul Krugman shames challenger Mitt Romney for stating that preexisting conditions would be covered under his health care plan—apparently, per Krugman, they wouldn’t be. Now there’s not a thing wrong with exposing one of Romney’s lies—that’s my whole point. But when we condemn the character of one candidate without acknowledging the other’s deceptions, we are anything but intellectually honest. We expect that sort of thing from the likes of GOP.com—it lists 12 Obama Debate Lies (and counting) and makes no mention of Romney’s aspersions. But a Nobel economist? Shame on Mr. Krugman for his blatant hackery. He holds himself to the lowest journalistic standard—as he forever proffers his one-sided arguments. But hey, like the athlete with the Heisman, or the ring, the Bank of Sweden recognizing Krugman for his work on international trade patterns does not a role model make.