In a recent letter (“We must not tolerate lies from our elected officials,” April 10), a gentleman decries lying in politics but conveniently – but not surprisingly – mentions only the president and Democrats, as if no one else in politics has ever lied.

It’s hard to think about lying in politics without immediately recalling the entire Iraq war, from the lies that sold us into it to the lies that caused it to be such a disaster. I think of whoppers like “yellowcake,” “Mohammed Atta in Prague,” “cakewalk,” “greeted as liberators,” and “mission accomplished.”

Then I’m reminded that instead of being discredited pariahs, the same people who sold us into Iraq are once again all over the media and standing before Congress trying to goad us into another war in Iran.

How anyone can ignore those kinds of lies and instead be filled with righteous indignation at a senator’s lying about a presidential also-ran’s tax returns is a testament to the strength of the right-wing media smoke-and-mirror machine.

Inconvenient truths are quickly tossed down the memory hole in favor of well-scripted innuendo – all with the goal of propagating a poisonous but incredibly profitable narrative of endless grievance and siege. (Just be thankful we have another six months before the “War on Christmas” fiction gets recycled again.)

It’s hard to begrudge the right-wing media kingpins their incredible wealth and influence. They know how to appeal to their target audience, and in return, the target audience buys the books, watches and listens to the programs, patronizes the advertisers, clicks the articles and dutifully attends the paid speaking engagements.

They win. Everyone else loses. If only that were a lie.

Jeremy Smith

Old Orchard Beach