Posted by
on Saturday, September 30, 2006 1:11:51 PM
At the end of the 19th Century, Senator Aldrich and the Republicans were under great pressure from the public to lower the tariff. It was the issue on which the election was fought. Near the end of the campaign Aldrich came out with a promise to revise the tariff.
After the Republicans won the election, Adrich, instead of lowering the tariff, raised it. He laughed and said, "I didn't say in which direction I would revise it."
This is, I believe, called dissembling. It is when you deliberately create the impression that you mean one thing and then, by a tendentious construal of a word, mean, and do, something else.
What was called a despicable lie in Aldrich's time is now called "clever lawyering" (instapundit.com). The Supreme Court of Massachusetts has just ruled against the state's application of a law denying a Massachusetts marriage license to any couple that couldn't get married under their own state's laws to a gay couple from Rhode Island because, even though the RI defines marriage as between a "bride and groom" it does not specifically rule out the bride and groom being of the same sex.
The Court does not bother to argue that the writers of the Rhode Island statues meant to permit gay marriage. It goes on directly to lecturing the public on why they, the Court, think gay marriage is a good idea.
Aldrich was called arrogant at the time, but compared to the Court he was modest. He was exercising raw power, doing it because he could. His laugh was a way of saying, "yeah, I lied, what are you going to do about it?"
Refreshing honesty compared to the Court.