Manipulation. Bias. Spin. Dishonesty.  American public life is riddled with the symptoms of obfuscation and doublespeak Orwell so vividly diagnosed. A Big Brother-style dystopia has not come to pass, but tools are available to spinmeisters and image-makers that allow them to detach politics from reality on a daily basis.

-What Orwell Didn't Know

Let's face it – we are often too busy to vet the candidates we have to choose from.  So, we generally just "go with our gut," as Stephen Colbert likes to say.  The political class knows this and has developed some very effective methodologies to spin and distract voters from inconvenient facts. These include:

1. Visual Symbols – flag pins, religious symbols, family pictures, photo ops, or even a flight suit on an aircraft carrier.
2. Empty Assertions – "Candidate X is a good man." "Candidate Y cares about children." "Candidate Z is a patriot...a family man...a person of integrity...an animal lover who prays a lot."
3. Outright Deception – Swiftboat Veterans for (un)Truth, Defense of Marriage (and Gay Discrimination) Act, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (and Big Oil Drilling) Act.
4. Denials of Reality – "I did not have sex with that woman," "I am not a crook," "I did not take the money," "I've never used steroids," "I cannot be bought."
5. Character Assassination (or Shooting the Messenger) – Plamegate, Whistleblower Retaliation, Global Warming Deniers Attacking Gore.

For an example of a local politician putting these methodologies to work, let's turn our attention to Cristina Kumka's investigative article on Vernon Walton in the January 30 edition of The Suburbanite.  Here we find the following facts concerning the developer ERA's political donations to Vernon Walton's campaign fund:

In February 2007, Walton voted to approve a deal between the city and ERA for a $200 million project to be built on the city's largest and most valuable land south of Route 4. At the time, Walton was a member of the city's Planning Board.

...in 2006, records show, Walton reported on a May 2006 ELEC form that he accepted $2,500 from "ERA properties" directly.

Walton refutes the record. He said he never accepted money from a developer with an application on the table.

"That was ERN. That issue was already addressed. It wasn't, period," Walton said last week. Walton said he did speak to someone about the name of the donor on the ELEC form, but couldn't remember that person's name.

ERN Properties of Paramus did not make a donation to the Walton campaign, according to a list of campaign contributions reported by the company.

So, here's a blatant example of a politician utilizing methodology #4, Denials of Reality, after getting caught casting his vote in favor of a contributor's project. In other words, Walton is employing the classic "Who Do You Believe, Me or Your Lyin' Eyes?" defense.

I invite you to read the article and check out how the BCDO pay-to-players are utilizing all 5 methodologies to spin us.