Secretary McDonald admitted he wrongly claimed to have served in US Special Operation Forces when he was in the Army.

A few thoughts:
- There are now several data points regarding lying among several senior or high visibility people (Hillary Clinton shot at in Bosnia, Brian Williams, Robert McDonald, others).
- Leads me to believe we are not looking at symptoms but rather a societal illness of some sort (overall morals, ethics, other).
- The excuse of "everyone does it" is a BS excuse. Try using this excuse on your parents sometime and I can tell you their standard responses.
- This is not a matter of a person needing to "watch what they say in public". It is easy. Tell the truth all the time and you don't need to remember what lies you told to whom.
- The argument that "only those who have never done 'X' can criticize" is also a BS argument. This is the equivalent of shouting down opposition or calling someone racist or a homophobe. The intent is to shut the person up who is criticizing or commenting rather than having to engage on what the person is saying in the first place.
- Just like in the killing of a person, not all lies are equal. For killings there are the degrees of murder, manslaughter, and justifiable homicide. For lies I would say there is stolen valor, attempts to obtain unearned benefits or get an unearned advantage, bar stories, and fish tales. There are others but hopefully the above gets my point across.

I may be a little biased in this as I look at it from a police officer's perspective. He has been caught in a lie. His credibility is shot. It is difficulty to hold an office of such high authority w/ the needed credibility it implies when you've been caught in a lie like this.

#douche