Pretty, she’s so pretty … but is she a good liar?

This is Savannah Guthrie. She is being considered as a replacement host for Brian Williams, on leave of absence for being caught in a lie, considered a “gaffe.” In news, a gaffe is getting caught lying about something inconsequential. Lying convincingly about important things is the job description. (In politics, a “gaffe” is accidentally saying something that is true.)

Guthrie appears to have all of Brian’s qualifications. She’s pretty, has a nice smile. She might be able to fill in slots on shows like 30 Rock and be really funny on Fallon. She could lie to me every night. I’d believe her.

Brian Williams is a community college dropout. As it is pretty well conceded that college degrees are mostly useless anymore, that was no blotch on his record, and I like that he forged ahead in the acting profession without training. He’s a natural.

But I did watch him in an interview one time where he claimed to write his own lines in real time for nightly news as the show went on. Nobody flinched. That was pretty good lying, probably why he thought the helicopter story would fly. People were eating his stuff up.

It’s not about truth. American news is lies. It’s about believability.