... or he should have at least known better.

For once, I believe the allegation to be at least plausible. Via Captain Ed:

Neil Barofsky's latest report on the TARP-funded bailout of banks last October contains the explosive allegation that the Bush administration lied about the health of the banks that received massive cash infusions. Nine banks got billions of dollars from the TARP funds, ostensibly to help shore up confidence in the American financial sector, while Henry Paulson declared them "healthy." Instead, Barofsky now says at least some of those nine institutions were in serious trouble when they got the cash infusions...

If so, I can understand why he was tempted to do so — but, as Ed points out, it hurt our fiscal credibility.

Of course, if I published an article like this each time I Obama said something he undoubtedly knew was untrue, I'd have no time or space for any other subject.

UPDATED: Ack. Turns out it was the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department (notably Hank Paulson) who did the lying, with no evidence given that Bush knew his testimony to be dishonest.

The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve lied to the American public last fall when they said that the first nine banks to receive government bailout funds were healthy, a government watchdog states in a new report released today.

And true, a President should be held accountable, but it's undoubtedly hard for a non-expert to know when the Treasury Secretary is simply lying through his teeth. I'd love to know what or who was really motivating Paulson.

And shame on me for trusting the media.