If you are a presidential candidate, or you think you may one day become one, remember the following simple piece of advice: the internet makes it difficult to lie.
Facts have become easier to check, and inconsistencies easier to display. And while the internet of a few years ago was a rather more boring place, a video is worth ten thousand words.
So, candidates of the future, do not be tempted to tell a small, convenient lies to get you through a single speech or debate, because someone, somewhere with video editing software and far too much time will be ready and waiting.
In the interests of non-partisanship, I offer the examples of clips featuring McCain, Obama and Clinton, whose ‘sniper fire‘ – um – ‘blip‘ became national news, of course. Which in turn prompted this spoof.
And if you are going to have to lie, dear candidate, just remember that unless you are 100% consistent, someone is going to point it out. And while the cable news channels are going to tire of such things, YouTube won’t.