Legend tells us George Washington claimed he couldn't lie, whereas Bill Clinton had no trouble with his lollapalooza of a fib, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky."
Honorably admitting error is out of character for most Americans. The operative admonition: when caught, deny.
This can be both shattering and ludicrous, such as when coming from the mouth of a high church official like Monsignor Eugene Clark, who easily topped Clinton's absurd denial of a sexual peccadillo.
The rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, presumably loyal to his vow of chastity, was videotaped entering a motel with his much younger, longtime personal secretary -- he's 79, she's 46 -- then both emerging five hours later.
This is the same Monsignor Clark who blamed "liberal media" for creating the child molesting scandal involving Catholic priests and who frequently nags Catholics about their declining personal virtues.
He says the videotapes of him and his secretary are misconstrued.
Oh? How? He and his secretary enter the White Sands Motel in Amagansett, Long Island, 111 miles from their downtown Manhattan office. Five hours together in the motel room. When they emerge, a change of clothing. An afternoon of cards?
Monsignor Clark is another of those clerics who pontificates about sin, then is caught flagrante delicto in sin. He probably broke two of the Ten Commandments in the process -- adultery and coveting another's wife.
(TV comedian Jay Leno's zinger: Catholics are relieved the monsignor was with a woman, not a young boy.)
Just as absurd was the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) denial that it smeared Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts in a TV spot. NARAL quickly pulled the outrageous ad when fellow liberals denounced it as mud slinging on a par with gutter ads of Swiftboat veterans who maligned Sen. John Kerry.
Major corporate CEOs caught plundering their companies of millions of dollars (Enron, Tyco, WorldCom) utter the most puerile denials. Accepting kingly salaries for their supposed acumen, when caught they whine they didn't know what was going on in their own companies.
Blame a lot of the denial culture on attorneys. A client's denial means a trial lasting weeks and fees, even if the client lands in prison.
The Japanese, who in 2001 had one attorney for every 7,325 citizens compared to one for every 288 U.S. citizens, still practice commendable, old-fashioned public confession of failure and shame.
Some even commit hari kari out of embarrassment.
Hmmmm. . . . .
Pat Murphy
