Well, he's certainly been lying lately.

I have known all kinds of characters in my life, and few are worse than compulsive liars. They destroy lives around them, but most of all, they put themselves under a constant, simply non-stop pressure that ruins them emotionally and, obviously, socially. They can never say what's really on their mind, they have to clear every single sentence that comes out of their mouth by making sure it's consistent with their previous or planned lies. And even though they become remarkably expert at deflecting doubts about their veracity, they live in constant fear of being called out on their lies, or questioned further. That's exhausting.

In a way, a lot of them don't have bad intentions. Many of their lies start with facts that have been slightly exaggerated. Then, they exaggerate even more. And then, even more than that, to the point where the lie no longer looks anything like the original truth.

And in the process, because they know lying is wrong, they justify it to themselves by convincing themselves that it's really based on the truth, even though in reality it's been stretched to something completely different. And even if they want to stop lying, they've already lied so much that they find themselves forced to build on their lies and dig deeper. It's such a vicious cycle. If you suspect someone is a compulsive liar, tell them you understand and push them to seek professional help.

Now I don't know if the Vice President of the United States is such a liar, but the fact that I'm wondering is enough to worry me. As I've written in my column about the vice-presidential debate in the fall, he is very comfortable making blatant lies.