Sen. Jon Kyle on Panned Parenthood - when a lie isn't a lie

Last week Sen. Jon Kyl created a bit of a stir when he claimed that abortions comprise 90% of Planned Parenthood. He was off by a factor of 30. The actual number is 3%. Facts are fungible things to Republicans these days but the response to the resulting shitstorm by Kyl's office hit a new low in political doublespeak.


From Think Progress:

This afternoon, CNN brought on Planned Parenthood's Judy Tabar to discuss his comment. During the interview, CNN anchor Don Lemon relayed a statement from Kyl's office walking back the comment, claiming the statement was not meant to be "factual":

LEMON: We did call his office trying to ask what he was talking about there. And I just want to give it you verbatim here. It says, 'his remark was not intended to be a factual statement, but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions.'

Kyl made his statement on the Senate floor so it goes into the Congressional Record nad is also accepted as fact by all the wingnuts out there but it's okay to lie when you're just trying to prove a point. The right accused Clinton o lying about everything all the time. If you apply the same standards it was okay for Clinton to allegedly lie about everything because he was just trying to illustrate a point and there was therefore no obligation for him to be "factual".

It's okay to lie if you're a Republican Senator.