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But this leads us to an unpleasant conclusion. You can be lied to only if you suspend disbelief. Author Charles Ford asserts that "politicians are mouthpieces for the self-deception of the people. Wittingly or unwittingly, they tell us that which we have asked them to tell us." Ergo, we have all been enablers for Bill Clinton. Poll after poll reveals a populace that doesn't want to know the awful truth. "Lie to me," sings Sheryl Crow, "and I'll promise to be true." Bok says that because we expect to hear hypocrisy from our leaders, we get it.
Ultimately, Bill Clinton stopped telling a full-blown lie not because he wanted to or even because we wanted him to, but because he had to. In Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche, who wasn't a fanatic about the truth, wrote: "'I have done that,' says my memory. 'I cannot have done that,' says my pride, and remains inexorable. Eventually, memory yields." In Bill Clinton's case, pride yielded, and the rest is history.