I love the GOP. Lying about WMDs is okay, but a scheduling conflict is where you have to draw the line.
A lie isn't a lie if you can't prove it was a lie. It's not like Bush said, "I told the American people blah blah blah....I lied....indeed they didn't have weapons."
Now Clinton on the other hand straightly admitted to a lie. Whether personal or not, that is a confirmed lie, not allegations of trickery into going to war.
I'm just so glad Obama is President...can you imagine how democrats would be slicing up President McCain at this point?
This comes down to the analogous question "If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, then is there a sound?"
Such is the legal standard for a perjury conviction -- that one cannot be convicted for a mere mistake of fact that causes one to state a falsehood. Because perjury can result in miscarriages of justice, people getting away with serious crimes, or military disasters, perjury can be a serious crime.
One is excused for making a false statement out of good faith acceptance of third-party data, misreading or misinterpreting information, faulty memory, or bad sensory input (optical illusions, poor eyesight, echos taken for the original sound). One cannot be excused for making a false statement in knowledge or reckless indifference to its falsehood. One may be excused for honorable ruses and face-saving 'little white lies' such as "That dress looks good on you" when it is in fact shopworn, the wrong size, or an unflattering style.
Some lies are comparatively harmless, like Bill Clinton lying about his fornication. But lying about WMDs in Iraq -- that started an unjust war.
