Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Editorial: Political liars are just more imposters

Don Farmer
Bay of Plenty Times·
9 Sep, 2012 09:49 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

Don't you just love politicians?

By the nature of the office they seek, whether it be on a national or local level, it seems to me they feel they need to project themselves in an entirely different way to the rest of us to bolster their chances of success at the polls.

This was driven home to me this week with the news from the United States of political hopeful and Republican vice-presidential nomination Paul Ryan's apparently spurious claims of athletic prowess in his younger days.

Ryan laid claim to be a long-distance runner when in school, saying his "personal best" for 42km was under three hours.

Runner's World staff were doubtful and went out to seek proof of his mighty performance but were unable to do so.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

American journalists have since described Ryan's claims as being a "looseness with the facts", which is quite a quaint way of putting it.

I don't know what Ryan would have to gain by purporting to be a super-fast, long-distance runner and suggest by making those unsubstantiated claims he may already have run his race.

In the wider context, it is always sad to see people putting themselves in a far better light than they are entitled and one of the great mysteries, to my mind, is the need some feel to claim a military background when none exists.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Here, in New Zealand we have had several cases of military imposters claiming combat experience and wrongly wearing medals they haven't earned.

In Australia, there has been a virtual epidemic of the same, sad self-delusion.

All men would probably love to be regarded as a combat veteran and military hero.

But the reality is that comparatively few of us are and many of the real combat veterans and heroes are lying dead in cemeteries throughout the world.

It is for their sake that the rest of us take such umbrage about imposters.

They devalue the memory of those who fought - and often died - on our behalf.

Politicians who lie are just another form of imposter.

Wairarapa Times Age

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Berry exciting! Julians marks 50 years with global crew

24 Sep 01:17 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Major Tauranga CBD construction site opens for one-day tour

24 Sep 12:01 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

That sinking feeling: Luxury 18m launch goes down a second time

23 Sep 09:28 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Berry exciting! Julians marks 50 years with global crew
Bay of Plenty Times

Berry exciting! Julians marks 50 years with global crew

Paul and Monica Julian take stock at their Whakatāne berry farm.

24 Sep 01:17 AM
Major Tauranga CBD construction site opens for one-day tour
Bay of Plenty Times

Major Tauranga CBD construction site opens for one-day tour

24 Sep 12:01 AM
That sinking feeling: Luxury 18m launch goes down a second time
Bay of Plenty Times

That sinking feeling: Luxury 18m launch goes down a second time

23 Sep 09:28 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP