An "impulse" is a sudden, involuntary desire. A compulsion is a long-term, highly repetitive habit that can be pathological if it "does harm to self or others." "Impulsive" and "compulsive" are not the same thing, even if Tim Walz's handlers told him to confess to "impulsive" lying.

Compulsions are disorders. "Impulses" like occasional "impulse buying" are not as bad. 

"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" (OCD) is a major brain-based impairment that can result in major harm to self or others. Some people with OCD can't leave their homes because they have a "lock-checking compulsion" -- they just have to check if their door is locked over and over again. 

Compulsive lying is a feature of Psychopathic Personality Disorder. The  word "personality" means "long-term" and often "lifelong." So what Tim Walz forgot to tell the world is that he has a lifelong trait of lying about big and little things. This might come in very handy for a governor of Minnesota who let his beautiful capital city be burned and looted while withdrawing police protection. 

A man who secretly enabled the rioters, and whose wife said that she "kept the windows open" (in the governor's mansion) to smell the burning neighborhoods. 

Tim Walz has a lifelong pattern of telling lies. He may not be able to control his compulsive lying. But no sane person could doubt that he has "done harm to self and others" by letting Minneapolis burn. 

For American voters today, it does not matter much if he lied to the Minnesota National Guard about his readiness to go to war, and then bugged out the day before his unit was mobilized for the Iraq War. He was a high-ranking non-com, and left his unit in the face of danger. 

The only question for voters is "Do you want a lifelong liar to be a heartbeat from the U.S. Presidency?

I don't.

How about you?

Image: AT via Magic Studio