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Was I buying a car? No. That line from the auto salesman's bible was uttered by a guy selling me - eyeglasses! Revelation: The big optical shops play shell games, too.

The radio-CD-phonograph I eyed at an Albuquerque department store cost $90 in December. It's 20 percent off today - off $149.95, that is. And Merck's TV ad says my health is its first concern.

Commercial lies are no big deal, of course. (Shrug.) That's business. (Shrug.) Just patronize the decent business people you know, caveat emptor elsewhere, and, well, shrug.

And as for lies, who doesn't?

I lie a lot to be kind: "It's my fault, not yours." I lie to smooth social life: "Love these (inedible) hors d'oeuvres." I lie (infrequently, shamefully) to extricate myself from a terrible spot. And I may also lie unconsciously. We humans can persuade ourselves that X is Y, then prevaricate quite sincerely.

But what about government lies - the kind that kill?

To foist the war in Iraq on the nation, the administration employed a few big lies. Prosecuting it incompetently and corruptly has required a veritable Hurricane Katrina of untruths.

All governments lie, of course, but I sense that today's rulers lie more often than, say, 35 years ago, and more viciously. The Watergate crew? Softies.

Unfortunately, calling a liar on his lies sets up a never-ending tit-for-tat, diverting us from solutions. If we don't do so, though, we lose democracy.

Oh, to scan the pulsing cortexes of the president, his men and media acolytes! I'd like to think they're honest liars, having persuaded themselves that white is black before telling us so.

But we know these moral leaders hid the real cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill from their fellow Republicans in the House to pass it. We know these prayerful folks tortured, too.

And now: eavesdropping. Last year, the president told a Buffalo, N.Y., crowd that his administration gets court orders before listening to us. Years earlier, he secretly approved the opposite - no court approval. A boomer moment? Perhaps, but consider this: Critics in both parties agreed the United States should listen in on al-Qaida but said to do it under law. One White House response said, or pretended, that critics oppose tracking al-Qaida - a knowing lie.

For more on White House values, read "State of War" by James Risen. And weep.

For viciousness, consider the lies of character assassination. James Webb, Secretary of the Navy for President Reagan, recently fired a column at White House "surrogates" who he says slimed soldiers including John McCain, Max Cleland, John Kerry and John Murtha. Webb blames such Swift-boating on politicos "who never had the courage to step forward and put their own lives on the line."

I fear Webb is naive. This White House - in hallowed Leninist tradition - believes the end justifies the means. Because the administration fights for God and country, every lie is permitted. Thus, good kids sacrifice life and limb, and the comfortable, nothing.

Maybe I should apologize to the optician. Let him frame me. Buy from a department store that raises prices before a sale. Donate dollars to Merck. Lying for my money is, after all, relatively innocent.

As for presidents: If they must lie, I prefer adultery. It's hardly innocent, but it's not fatal.

Alpert is a semi-retired journalist in Albuquerque. E-mail him at arthuralpert@swcp.com. His column runs the fourth Thursday of the month.