I'll bet he hides his own Easter eggs, too.

Fife Symington displays the typical politician's short memory:

Former Gov. Fife Symington says now that those strange lights that appeared over Phoenix a decade ago were from another world and that he had a close encounter with an alien craft on March 13, 1997.

"I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery. Other people saw it, responsible people," Symington said Thursday. "I don't know why people would ridicule it."

Symington, who was in his second term as governor of Arizona during the Phoenix Lights incident, recently told a UFO investigator making a documentary that he had kept quiet about his personal close encounter because he didn't want to panic the populace...

The governor didn't let on at the time, instead poking fun at the whole thing.

That's a pretty short trip to "I don't know why people would ridicule it" from Symington himself ridiculing it from a position of authority in order to avoid panicking people over something they could not control.

Now personally, I have no idea what the Phoenix Lights were (the official explanation is that they were A-10 flares). Nor do I particularly care; UFOs are not really my thing.

But one thing I am sure of if that if we ever do get visited by aliens, unless it breaks out uncontrolled like the dragons of "Evolution," those who expect the government to solemnly and publicly announce what they really believe has happened are in for a big disappointment.

Rule #1 in politics is CYA. But it's followed closely by "Don't scare the horses*."

UPDATE: Of course, it does bring up a good question: if politicians did discover, for example, that the world was going to be destroyed by a meteor or something in 48 hours and that there was nothing anyone could do to stop it, should they tell people? For what reason or benefit?

Talk amongst yourselves...

* Unless that scaring can be turned into more power to the politicians, that is.