RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, do you remember post-Lewinsky, in the second term of Bill Clinton, that AP ran a series of stories — picked up by all of the other Drive-By Media — telling us that lying was good? “Little” lies were helpful. They spared people’s feelings. “Everybody does it.” It actually has redeeming social quality and value, if not done too much, but even then, you know, within reason, lying is actually a well-calculated way to get through life, causing yourself less pain and, obviously, others less pain. Well, you won’t believe this. So Clinton appears on Fox News Sunday this past Sunday — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — so it’s four days ago, and I have here, ladies and gentlemen, in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers a story from our buddies at the Associated Press by Jocelyn Noveck:
Public anger, politics, business and elsewhere, could be a “good thing.” “Is a little tantrum now and then, just what’s called for?” Well, they went out and they found somebody who agrees with their question and answers it the way they wanted. “Under the right circumstances, yes, say some analysts of social behavior.” When’s the last time, folks, anybody ever told you that it was good to have a public display of temper? When was it? When was the last time anybody praised you for doing the smart thing and the right thing by losing your cool? (laughing) Well, just as BJs are now not sex, so is road rage a good thing! Blowing your cool, losing your temper in public, even in business, is the right thing to do, “under the right circumstances.”
According to senior associate dean at Yale’s School of Management, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld: “‘It’s more important than ever to cut through the clutter. All of us are so over-managed these days. Public figures have platoons of protectors. It’s more important than ever to show authentic, real emotion.’ Sonnenfeld believes Clinton’s anger was genuine, and yet intentionally uncensored. And he says Clinton has told him personally in the past … ‘that when your critics are wrong, fire back on all cylinders. Take it on with full force and don’t let up.’ In the Fox News interview, Clinton pointed his finger, leaned sharply in toward Wallace, and poked his leg, all in animated response to the question of whether his administration had done enough to pursue Osama bin Laden.”
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I went back to my website. I wanted to find out exactly when all these stories about how good it is to lie were. We have a whole segment on it in the Essential Stack of Stuff today. We ran this October 28, 2005, almost a year ago. “Will We See Stories on How Healthy Lying Is?” And we chronicle here on the website all of the stories that came out from February through September of 1998 on how healthy it is to lie. Cleveland Plain Dealer: “They Want Clinton to be a Saint.” Boston Herald: “To Tell the Truth – Clintons’ Troubles Get Couples Talking.” Rocky Mountain News: “When — If Ever — Is Lying OK?” CNN & Time Magazine: “The Truth About Lying.” All of these stories were oriented around how healthy it can be.
Let’s see, who else is here. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an analyst of political communication, said that “None of Clinton’s gestures, though, is necessarily indicative of a loss of control, says. ‘What we usually see from politicians are scripted moments — or interviews that are puff pieces. We rarely see a tough one-on-one interview.'” Kathleen, do you ever watch Meet the Press when Dick Cheney is on or when Donald Rumsfeld is on somewhere? I continue to be mystified. At any rate, ladies and gentlemen, feel free. Blow your top. Have a little road rage out there. It’s cool, therapeutic, and very helpful.
Read Rush’s Original Coverage…
<a target=new href=”//home/stacks/joewilsonsstackoflies/will_we_see_stories_on_how_healthy_lying_is.guest.html”>(Will We See Stories on How Healthy Lying Is?)</a>
Read the Background Material…
It can be cool to lose your cool — ask Clinton
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/74516,CST-NWS-clin28.article)
September 28, 2006
BY JOCELYN NOVECK
NEW YORK — Can you really get even by getting mad?
That’s one of the questions of the week as we evaluate and re-evaluate Bill Clinton’s finger-pointing, knee-poking interview with Chris Wallace on Fox.
The first debate, of course, was whether Clinton had actually lost it at all — a ”full-bore tantrum,” one conservative columnist called it — or knew exactly what he was doing.
But splitting the difference for a moment, the interesting issue becomes: Can public anger, — in politics, business and elsewhere — be a GOOD thing?
Under the right circumstances, yes, say some analysts of social behavior.
”It’s more important than ever to cut through the clutter,” says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale’s School of Management. ”All of us are so over-managed these days. Public figures have platoons of protectors. It’s more important than ever to show authentic, real emotion.”
Sonnenfeld believes Clinton’s anger was genuine, and yet intentionally uncensored. And he says Clinton has told him personally in the past — he counts himself as one of the former president’s many acquaintances — ”that when your critics are wrong, fire back on all cylinders. Take it on with full force and don’t let up.”
Squirming and shifting
In the Fox News interview, Clinton pointed his finger, leaned sharply in toward Wallace, and poked his leg, all in animated response to the question of whether his administration had done enough to pursue Osama bin Laden.
None of Clinton’s gestures, though, is necessarily indicative of a loss of control, says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an analyst of political communication.
”What we usually see from politicians are scripted moments — or interviews that are puff pieces,” she said. ”We rarely see a tough one-on-one interview. We have no reference point. How do you differentiate between strong conviction and anger?”
From body language alone, psychologist Pauline Wallin thinks Clinton did lose some control. ”He was squirming, and shifting in his chair a lot,” Wallin said. ”His emotions definitely took over.”
But she added, ”his supporters saw what they wanted to see, and so did his critics.”
AP
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