In this space, originally, was a post about Sarah Palin as a very special liar - one who seems to care less about the truth, and about saying things that could be defended as truthful - than the vast majority of liars I've studied for decades. I thought that was interesting psychologically; hence the post to Psychology Today.

I have now moved the post, in full, to the Huffington Post; you can find it here. Alan, in the comments section here, was right. I should have posted it there in the first place. The comments the post drew were mostly personal and political, not psychological. My personal e-mail box has also been filled with scathing personal attacks. I realize that the blogosphere is the wild, wild web, and that if I write colorfully, I'll attract some vitriol. I'm also sure other bloggers have been treated in far nastier ways than I have, so I'm not complaining. I'm just noting that in my personal experience as a blogger (at Huffington Post, since June of 2006; here at Psych Today since March of 2008), this is as scurrilous as it's ever gotten.

I opened this post (now found at the Huffington Post) by noting that I was veering off-topic, because this blog is about single life. But since I've studied for decades, I occasionally post about that. Tellingly, though, some of the comments and personal emails sent to me go right to my single status, invoking all the usual stereotypes. For example, the most recent email I received said this:

Do you have a husband? No. Do you have children? No. You are all alone -- a miserable, bitter failure of a human being who elevates herself by attempting to bring others down.

Others were much more scathing.

Sarah Palin was asked recently about the people who have criticized her, and said, "These are probably some lonely people, some shallow people." So perhaps her defenders are simply following her lead. Or maybe they would have commented as they did even without Palin's example.

For those who asked why I have not analyzed the lies of any Democrats: I have, here. For those who asked about evidence that Palin has lied, there are some answers in the comments section. You can find other discussions here, here, here, here, and probably lots of other places as well.

If you have further comments that are political, I'd suggest that you post them over at Huffington. Of course, you are welcome to continue posting here if you prefer.