Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

My View by Jim Yacavone

(September 8, 2016)

By now there should no question among rational people (which probably excludes hardcore Hillary supporters) that Hillary Clinton is an inveterate liar. Heck, she even lied about her name claiming that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, the man who first climbed Mt. Everest. The problem is that she was born in 1947, and Sir Edmund climbed Everest in 1953. 

Her lies about her use of a private email server while Secretary of State takes the cake. Among other things, she lied about not receiving classified emails, about turning over all work related emails, about using only one device for “convenience,” about the use of a private server and email domain being permitted by law, and about having a secure server.

It’s almost as if she can’t help herself. Not knowing much the subject of liars I did some research on the internet (always a dangerous thing to do). There are many terms used to describe liars—pathological liars, sociopathic liars, compulsive liars and habitual liars, to name a few. But what I got out of my research is that there are two basic types of constant liars: compulsive liars and sociopathic liars.

According to truthaboutdeception.com a compulsive liar is a person who tells lies frequently, often with no rational motive to do so. It goes on: “A compulsive liar is defined as someone who lies out of habit. Lying is their normal and reflexive way of responding to questions. Compulsive liars bend the truth about everything, large and small. For a compulsive liar, telling the truth is very awkward and uncomfortable while lying feels right.” Other terms for a compulsive liar are pathological liar, habitual liar, and chronic liar.

While Hillary lies a lot, I don’t think she’s a compulsive liar. For one thing, she’s had many reasons to lie over the years. Currently, the biggest reason is that she wants to be President, and she has to lie to cover up the whole email fiasco as well as her disastrous tenure as Secretary of State.

Then there’s the sociopathic liar. The same website says that “a sociopath is typically defined as someone who lies incessantly to get their way and does so with little concern for others. A sociopath is often goal-oriented (i.e., lying is focused—it is done to get one's way). Sociopaths have little regard or respect for the rights and feelings of others.”

That certainly describes Hillary Clinton. We know she lies. Her lies are focused on making her look good or avoiding criminal liability so she can be President. She’s obviously goal-oriented, and there are many reports from former staffers and Secret Service personnel that Hillary is often mean, rude and nasty to underlings.

Maybe that’s the reason she has had so little spontaneous interaction with the press. Maybe her staff knows that she’s a sociopathic liar and believes that it’s better for her to stick to scripted speeches out of fear that free-wheeling question and answer sessions will only result in more lies.

Knowing what type of liar Hillary is doesn’t make me feel any better about the prospect of her being President. The bottom line is that she lies a lot. You would think that even hardcore Democrats would be concerned that having a persistent liar in the White House. Here’s why: She’s made a lot of promises in her campaign, and they obviously resonate with the liberal crowd. But given that she lies so often, how do they know that she means any of them? 

That’s my view. What’s yours?