Dan Geer:

Politicians know that the surest way to win an argument is, as they say, to "frame the question", by which they mean painting a picture that their opposition has to work to overcome. Every time there is a televised debate where some self-important interlocutor asks a question that is impossible to answer succinctly, and then gives the candidate sixty seconds of airtime, painting into a corner by way of selective disclosure is what is happening.

Decius:

I like the judicial process -- it enables a discussion of issues in a forum where there isn't as much room for bullshit as there is in the legislature.

Yaniv Bernstein:

It's amazing the amount of difference a cultural intolerance to bullshit can make.

Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore:

Few U.S. officials think of their ability to act hypocritically as a key strategic resource. Indeed, one of the reasons American hypocrisy is so effective is that it stems from sincerity: most U.S. politicians do not recognize just how two-faced their country is.

Turkeys Voting for Christmas:

In contemporary politics, if you can fake sincerity, you have got it made.

John Horgan on the theories of Robert Trivers:

The more we believe our own lies, the more sincerely, and hence effectively, we can lie to others.