The New Right-Wing Smear Machine

The Nation by Christopher Hayes | Nov. 6, 2007 (Special Report)

Such is the power of the right-wing smear forward, a vehicle for the dissemination of character assassination that has escaped the scrutiny directed at the Limbaughs and Coulters and O'Reillys but one that is as potent as it is invisible. In 2004 putative firsthand accounts of Kerry's performance in Vietnam traveled through e-mail in right-wing circles, presaging the Swift Boat attacks. Full Story »

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by Patricia L'Herrou - Oct. 1, 2008

a recent study of how our minds work, cited by FactCheck i think? says that once people believe something it's very very unlikely that they will stop believing it even when they hear the truth of the matter. so what is documented here seems to affirm that. i would like to see ideas in the press on practical ways to counteract this, particularly when the press rarely factchecks (publishing at the same time the truth) itself when printing what people say.