It's not the doing, it's the lying

It's almost funny how many times people who have something to hide make the mistake of calling attention to themselves. Most of the time what they're trying to hide is that they were wrong on a matter of fact. Most of us have been wrong in this way, even your loyal scribbler has been know to get it wrong sometimes. But the honourable (and tactically best) way to behave when this happens is: set the record straight, come clean, tell the truth, then go and try to sin no more.

It's not always easy and it's usually embarrassing but that helps to reinforce the lesson: if you don't like this feeling, then don't do stuff that makes you feel this way. My experience is that most people are more forgiving of people who are wrong and then admit it than they are of people who have to be exposed as liars or cover-up artists.

Deborah Howell was probably spun. She probably got her talkingpoints and just parroted them uncritically; sadly this is not an uncommon occurrence. But when people pointed out her error in the comments section of the WaPo blog, she and the WaPo tried to weasel out, cover-up (suspend and remove comments) and explain/complain. But at each step they attracted more attention, experienced more pressure and as a result are finding it increasingly difficult to avoid additional scrutiny or to finally admit their errors. And the karma wheel keeps turning...

Meanwhile the pressure continues. Here are three from Brad DeLong: one, two, three and one from T. Slothrop.