As optimists, we expect people, including politicians, to tell the truth.  As realists, we recognize that's not always the case.  People do, upon ocassion, tell less, sometimes far less than the truth.  They make "mistakes", they "forget", they lie by omission, and, unfortunately, they lie intentionally to deceive us.  Face it, that's life in the big city.  

The over-riding goal of the news media is, I like to hope, to keep us "informed."  We know a secondary goal of most media outlets is to, also, impact our opinions.  This is, of course, the "new" side and "editorial" side of any media source.  This is not "breaking news."  We also know that most of us (let's be honest here) can't help but enjoy the "gotcha" moment....when someone we really don't like is caught doing something illegal or just plain stupid.  This is particularly true in the world of politics.  Conversely, we're distraught when it's "our guy/girl" who makes a fool of themselves.  (cont)