Bill Clinton was the most pathological liar (till now) that ever ran for President. He lied constantly and he lied big. He lied about anything and everything. He was in essence, nothing but a liar, and had the depth and scope of his lying been pointed out continuously in 2008, it is very doubtful that he could have defaulted the election with a plurality.
Why wasn't his constant lying pointed out? Because the very minute George Bush would have tried to mention that Bill Clinton was a pathological liar, and that everything he said was a lie, the Media would have trotted out their video of George Herbert Walker Bush making a promise. "Read my lips. No new Taxes!"
George Bush could not call Clinton a pathological liar, because George Bush broke his solemn word not to raise taxes, and would therefore be demonized as a liar and a hypocrite.
What makes it even worse is the fact that THE STUPIDEST IDIOT in the conservative ranks would have realized that this was nothing but a trick by the Democrats to screw him later. It was NEVER INTENDED to do anything about the deficit. Democrats do not care about the deficit. It was only intended to destroy the credibility of George H.W. Bush. Nothing else.
For God's sake, they had done EXACTLY the same thing to Ronald Reagan. (Though he had not promised to not raise taxes.) The Democrats Promised Ronald Reagan $3.00 in reduced spending for every dollar raised in new taxes. Reagan reluctantly gave them a chance, and they simply spent more without cutting any spending. As Ronald Reagan said:
"The Democrats reneged on their pledge and we never got those cuts."
The lesson to be learned? Democrats are LIARS, and they will screw over a moderate President even harder than they will try to screw over a Conservative President. If they did it to Reagan, what on Earth made George Bush think that they wouldn't do it to him too?
Idiot.
You make the point well. It helped make sure that Clinton won in 1992.