Why for the most part are we able to forgive when a politician on our side lies, but not the opposition?

Just ask former senator Al Franken if Democrats forget? It’s obvious that Republicans don’t care what lies their politicians tell.

In George Washington’s formative years he admitted to damaging a cherry tree with his axe and was praised for his honesty. Two hundred years later Trump denies all knowledge of the cherry tree, claims he is being subjected to a witch hunt and demands the FBI examines the axe Biden has hidden away.

The difference is not one of “sides”, it is just that some people respect the truth while others don’t believe it ever existed.

Human nature – nothing to do with ‘which side you’re on’. Hell I’m a flag-waving democrat and even I get tired of all the republican bashing that goes on here. They’re human beings. They’re not all evil, or liars, or bigots, or close-minded, or book-burners, or trump-lovers, or anything else, any more than all democrats are anything.

Because we (liberals & conservatives) are hypocrites and we figure that the ends justify the means.

All politicians lie. It’s a given. It’s in their blood and their egos.

Why would you ever take a politician’s words seriously?

Great question. I think it has to do with self-esteem, ultimately. We want to believe that we’re rooting for the good guys. We don’t want to imagine we’ve been tricked, and we’d rather not change our minds once they’re made up. So we make the story fit and pretend that our hero didn’t lie, or that he had a very good reason for his behaviour.

@elbanditoroso Exactly.

The problem @elbanditoroso is a lot of people cling to the leader they believe in no matter how many times he lies or laws he/she breaks, look at Trumpers for example.

@SQUEEKY2 true, but that is stupidity on their part.

I always think if a politician I like did that how would I feel about it.

I feel let down when a politician that I like lets me down, either by him or her lying or doing some other bad act. I felt let down when the drama about Cuomo came out. I liked him during the pandemic, he gave daily updates via press conference and I really felt like his being so strict about the shutdown was what got NY through. Then when there were allegations about sexual misconduct, it was disappointing and a let down.

I can’t say that I relate to your question. I voted for a local mayor who was found, not long after the election, to have done unsavory things to get the position and had hired family members into high positions without any relevant experience. I fell out of favor of them immediately. I was not yet an adult, but was disappointed about how Clinton avoided disclosing his inappropriate sexual relationships while in office.

I don’t at all feel like it’s ok in my camp but not ok in the other… not sure if that is about my own personality/outlook/values or if it’s related to me not being affiliated with any political party (although my values are strongly on one side over the other).

They all lie. I forgive none of them.

If a politician’s lips are moving, they’re lying…

FUCK them all.….