Keller @ Large: Intellectual Honesty Is Out Of Style

BOSTON (CBS) - One of the worst moments of the Obama years in Washington was the administration's disgraceful effort to mislead the American people about the murder of four of our own in Benghazi, Libya, including the US ambassador there.

It was the height of the 2012 presidential election, and Mitt Romney had been criticizing President Obama's claims of major progress in stifling terrorism in that region. So when US officials, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, learned that the killings had been coordinated by an Islamic militant group, they couldn't just tell the politically-embarrassing truth, but instead spread what they knew was a lie, that the attacks had been spontaneous violence by a mob enraged over an anti-Muslim video.

Republicans and plenty of non-partisans were outraged, rightfully so. Donald Trump raised the issue repeatedly during his campaign against Clinton.

So it's almost beyond ironic that now-President Trump was caught the other day bolstering his political spin about a world under siege by violent refugees by repeating fake news about alleged violence in Sweden being promoted by – wait for it – a falsehood-riddled anti-refugee video.

Give an assist to right-wing propagandist Tucker Carlson for promoting the filmmaker and his discredited trash on his show, where it was seen and duly parroted by the president of the United States.

And Trump groupies who were so outraged over the Benghazi lie really should find a mirror, look in it, and ask themselves – how can I be outraged over that but shrug this off?

The truth is, you can't if you're going to be intellectually honest.

But is there anything more out of style these days than intellectual honesty?

Listen to Jon's commentary: