"Truthiness" — a term coined by comedian Stephen Colbert — is becoming too apparent in the 2016 presidential campaign, former CIA Director Michael Hayden said Thursday, and it "should be very concerning."
"Although the word was created recently by a comedian, the reality of truthiness has been a dark hand in history for a long time," Hayden, a retired Air Force general who also directed the National Security Agency, said in an op-ed in The Washington Times.
"Facts, real facts, should matter more — and truthiness casting an unusually long shadow on an American presidential election should be very concerning."
Hayden noted many flubs passed off as "truth" by both Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton throughout the campaign, including:
- Clinton's claim in a recent Fox News Sunday interview that FBI Director James Comey "validated all of her public comments on her private email server," he said.
"Not really," Hayden retorted.
- Trump's statement Monday that neighbors of the San Bernardino terrorists saw "bombs on the floor" of their home before the last December's attacks.
He called Trump's assertion "a claim for which there is absolutely no evidence" — and said that it was just one of "a whole series of statements" bordering on truthiness by the GOP nominee.
"We can all be accused of truthiness at one time or another," Hayden added. "We are all tempted to grab narratives, or stories, or so-called facts simply because they fit our preconceptions.
"But I have lived and worked in parts of the world where a dark master narrative was all controlling," he said. "Specific facts were neither interesting nor relevant since they could be selected or shaped to fit an already agreed-upon big picture.
"Great word for the 2016 campaign," Hayden opined. "There’s a whole lot of truthiness going on."
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