Integrity Trumps Pretense

Is it just me, or are there other like-minded political junkies out there who are just about fed up to the gills with candidates' pretending to be perfect? I'm not sure how many more times I can stand to hear them refute their own words by claiming to have been misquoted or misinterpreted before I... well, I'm not sure what I'll do, but I have a feeling it won't be pretty.
Maybe the fault lies with us bloggers, or with other forms of media. Have we so completely cowed them that they are just scared to death to say what they mean and mean what they say? If that's the case, then why does political "mud-slinging" continue? That's one I'd like to scare them out of.
There's a lot of stuff percolating in my mind on this topic, but at the moment, I have to cut it short to get to class. Stay tuned.