License to Shrill

Disingenuous: Not frank or honest. Deceptively simple.

Politicians often lie. 

   Last week's presidential promenade was less a debate than a competition to see who could talk longer, louder and say less than the others.
   Several governors on the stage made much of their record of balancing their state budgets every year they were in office. This is a true statement, and by stressing that accomplishment, they imply that their predecessors did not. But it's also true that they have no choice. By law, every governor of every state must present a balanced budget every year. Only the federal government can operate at a deficit. States cannot.
   Jeb Bush claimed credit for an economic boom while he was governor of Florida, and he maintained that he could replicate that 4 percent annual growth rate on a national level if elected President. What he did not say was that the boom was fueled by a spurt in housing development, and was coincidental with his time if office. Moreover, the Florida boom went bust soon afterward. Does he accept blame for that? A silent no. But then again, politicians always claim credit when good things happen. When bad things happen, they blame their predecessor.
  Chris Christie mentioned several times that he was appointed to the post of federal prosecutor for New Jersey on Sept. 10, 2001, the day before the disasters of 9/11, and said the World Trade Center disaster happened "in my state."
   Fact: Christie was nominated for that position on Dec. 7, 2001, a full three months after the 9/11 attack. His appointment was confirmed by the U.S. Senate three weeks later, on Dec. 20, and he took office Jan. 17, 2002.
   At the time, his nomination was criticized by many legal professionals in New Jersey because Christie had no prior experience in a federal courtroom, and little experience in criminal law. He did, however, raise substantial funds for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush.
   Geography lesson: The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were located in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
   So the questions become these: 1/ Are the candidates disingenuous, in that they leave out key information and stress deceptively simple scenarios that make them appear more qualified than they really are? Or 2/ Are they incompetent, in that they don't really know what they're talking about? Or 3/ Are they telling flat-out lies?