Let down by leaders

PPT noticed this quote recently: “Is it any wonder that respect for elected leaders is at such a low ebb in this country? This is a man so thoroughly entangled in a self-spun web of mendacity that he now not only takes his own deceit and hypocrisy for granted, but expects that others will do the same.”

You could easily conclude that this was a comment about the Abhisit Vejjajiva government in Thailand. After all, as PPT has shown several times, “mendacity” is a polite word for much that comes from Abhisit. We’d add that there are plenty of other Thai examples, past and present, of mendacity in politics.

In fact, though, the quote is from  Frank Bongiorno, writing at Inside Story (15 December 2009: “Tony’s war”), describing Tony Blair’s comments to the BBC on going to war in Iraq and his failure to acknowledge the “right of citizens to have their leaders speak truthfully…”. Must have something to do with the college at Oxford.

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