Who do you trust?

In his news conference last night the president continued to push for overall cuts in social security benefits, yet proposed "a Social Security system in the future where benefits for low-income workers will grow faster than benefits for people who are better off." Fuckin' communist. (WP)

Yup, everyone's talking about "Bush's big gamble" but it seems like typical Bush strategy to me: just say the thing that people want to hear, and then do whatever you want. In other words, just lie, or contort the truth to the point that you might as well be lying. Classic example: "I have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years." Ballsy! (State of the Union 2003)

Why does this strategy work? Good, normal people, and most of us are, have a hard time processing the fundamental contradiction of the guy they elected president lying to their faces. It's just not done. Bush's lies produce a cognitive dissonance that can only be resolved in one of two ways: either people must admit to themselves that they were wrong to trust him, that they just got completely screwed, or they must just trust him blindly and discount evidence that he is lying. It's way easier to do the second, and totally understandable. What will people do this time?