(Some additions added, second link, since I didn't get my post perfect. .o)

I appreciate your concern for honesty, Angus, which I think is generally a positive value, although it may not always be an expedient means towards an end that someone ("a person") has in mind. Sooner or later, though, I think you should acknowledge also the downsides of "honesty", like losing votes in a "tight" contest from the gullible.

I find m-myself in this awkward simplistic situation now of reaching a cynical conclusion based on inadequate evidence: John Kerry claimed he was bravely in Cambodia ?1969, with his "swift" boat (although nobody else could confirm that), and now, we hear Hillary Clinton's repeated suggestion (vocal & print) that she was under fire in Bosnia in the mid 1990s.

In this case, Hillary's abject 1995-2008 non-credibility brings down any residual "hope" I had that John Kerry may have been on a challenging "secret" mission of importance.

In brief: By the tarnished "halo effect", the synthetic hair shirt does not become the lady, and also diminishes Kerry's own faux hair shirt's authenticity.

Oddly, inconsistently, these two do seem to otherwise vocally scorn/disparage military policy reinforcements in general.

On a positive note, there may be a new cellulose alcohol production process in Michigan employing tiny microfibers/tubes for gas injection, and special microbes that can thrive on carbon monoxide (even GM reportedly has put some money into that) which "promises" $1/gallon alcohol in a world market wholesaling at $2.

Summary: Wishful thinking is a human fantasy/foible, and the proof of player authenticity is elusive. However, $2 per gallon cellulose-derived alcohol would still be fairly good news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mitty

GM bets on $1 a gallon ethanol maker