Lies and the Lying Liars...

Here's a hypothetical: Say you're a leading Congressional Republican. The presumptive Democratic nominee has been caught on microphone calling you and your Republican colleagues "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen." What is your response?

1. "We're not lying when we start saying that Senator Kerry is the old-time Democrat of tax and spend."
2. Who cares, Kerry is just "Ted Kennedy on a South Beach diet."
3. "Politics in Washington have reached a sorry state when a Senator can refer to his longstanding colleagues with such venomous disrespect."

Okay, so that last was a joke, but the first two are for real: (1) House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert; (2) Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.).