Bush asks review of Liar's Club contest; White House says he should have won

The White House called Friday for a review of the 2005 Burlington, Wis. Liars Club competition, which overlooked some whoppers from President Bush and awarded its top prize to a local man.

"We hope it is just an oversight, but clearly President Bush is the Liar of the Year," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said. "And if he's not, I am, or maybe Condi. Giving the award to some guy with a funny story is a travesty."

"There are many to choose from," McClennan said. But the Bush lies he suggested as worthy of the top prize could be either:

"We abide by the law of the United States and we do not torture,"

or
"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think PATRIOT Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

Liars Club officials said that the wiretap lie, while compelling, was disqualified because Bush said it in 2004. Only 2005 lies were eligible.

"The 'we-don't-torture' lie is another matter, since it is a fresh, December 2005 lie." McClellan said. "We are asking the club to correct the results, before we are forced to take it to our Supreme Court -- I mean the US Supreme Court -- and have the results overturned."

"There is another reason the Bush lies were not considered for the top honors," a Lions Club spokesman said. "The Burlington Liars Club competition has always been a contest for amateurs. That means no politicians, who are professional liars."

Before the Bush appeal, the club had named Bill Meinel of Burlington the winner with this story:

"My son's high school grades went from all A's to all D's. This happened right after he had his wisdom teeth extracted."

The Racine Journal Times reports:

John Soeth, president of the Burlington Liars Club, is one of the annual contest's two judges; Vice-president Mitzi Robers is the other. They had just under 400 entries from throughout the United States come in for the 2005 contest.

Meinel's lie, he said, was "exactly the kind we're looking for that sounds very logical, and at the end, they aren't very logical. They're obviously a lie."

He and Robers are the only two active members of the club, though thousands have become honorary members over the years.

"It's the perfect organization to belong to," Soeth said. "Two members, no meetings, no bylaws, no dues. There's nothing. The club is a lie, too."

According to the Burlington Historical Society Web site, the club started in 1929 when an enterprising freelance reporter made up a story about handing out a medal for the year's best lie and sent it out for publication. Like Meinel's winning lies, there was a kernel of truth to the story: The reporter and several other Burlington residents would get together and tell tall tales. But the club was not official until after the fabricated story got picked up by papers throughout the country.

The club's notoriety has spread, and each year hundreds of people send their best lies in for review.

The Burlington Liars Club will be accepting entries for next year's contest through mid-December 2006. To enter, send the lie and $1 to Burlington Liars Club, Box 156, Burlington, WI 53105