Keller @ Large: Is It OK To Lie About A Political Adversary?

BOSTON (CBS) - If you even remotely enjoy what you read here every day, I think you will really get a kick out of the website Politifact.com, the Pulitzer-prize winning fact-checking service of the Tampa Bay Times.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

The nonpartisan reporters and researchers at Politifact take prominent public statements by political figures and run them through a truth test, with results ranging from true to mostly true to mostly false to my personal favorite, and a frequently-applied rating: "pants on fire," which means, in essence, it's a flat-out, knowingly-uttered lie with no redeeming value.

Politifact's latest "pants on fire" award goes to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who, according to the New York Times, has a "history of intemperate, borderline adolescent remarks."

In recent days Reid has been peddling a story that an alleged "source" close to Mitt Romney told him Romney "didn't pay any taxes for ten years," an apparent attempt to enhance whatever political damage has been caused by Romney's refusal to release more than a few years worth of tax returns.

Instead, writes New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, Reid has made a fool of himself by engaging in what Bruni calls "the M.O. of the moment…. Spew first and sweat the details later, or never. Speak loosely and carry a stick-thin collection of backup materials, or none at all."

It's one thing to actually be Donald Trump, the short-fingered vulgarian who runs around spreading unsubstantiated garbage about the President's background. It's another thing to willfully imitate Trump, the way one snake might follow another down a greasy hole.

Take it from one of them, this stuff doesn't make headway with independent voters who, by definition, are not partisan or ideological groupies waiting to lap up fables about how evil the other side is.

But as someone who sees too many of the e-mails and tweets intended for those partisans, I can verify that far more energy is being spent by both sides on trying to whip up their cattle into a bovine frenzy than on anything serious or useful.

And they wonder why the polls are so hard to move.

Because we're sick of your garbage, and aren't going to swallow it anymore.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.