No matter how you lean politically, we have all heard about smear campaigns. They date back before many of us were born and probably really rose to prominance with the Red Scare of the 50s and McCarthy and Blacklisting and all of those lovely things. Since then, each generation tops the other in the depth of the lies and conspiracies and more importantly, in the methods used to spread the lies.
For me personally, they came to my attention during the Clinton presidency when I was still a member of the GOP. I would get these mailers that had the appearance of being some kind of political newsletter that contained all manner of ridiculous conspiracy claims against the Clintons. The fine print would also disclaim any affinity with the official Republican party, but was always paid for by some 527 type group whose financial backers were all connected to, or were, supporters of the GOP and it’s candidates. Those just made me so disgusted. I’ve been an official, donating member to the DNC for 8 years now. Also an active member of many of the blog sites which support liberal causes. I have not recevied ONE mailer or email with smears against conservative candidates. Not ONE. On DailyKos, when they discuss viral email campaigns, it is always in response to something, but never to start it. Now, I am NOT declaring the party free of such things by any means…just describing my personal experience. Do take note though, that it was the Democrat in 2004 who was the victim of what is now an official political term: Swift Boating. And it is one of the Democrats again this year who has had to launch a specific Fight The Smears page on his website. Now, John McCain was the victim of some particularly nasty smearing himself back in 2000….from his fellow Republican candidate George W Bush though, not from the left. Much of the rise of the smear campaign process has been linked (or credited to if you happen to like how it works!) to Karl Rove. The timing of it all does coincide with his rise to power as a campaign director in the GOP. But he has nothing much to do with the current round. The internet pretty much allows anyone to launch and spread a good old fashioned, totally innacurate smear. The most talked about one over the past year of course, is the email attempting to paint Obama as a muslim. This article in the Washington Post is a GREAT piece of research into how this was derived and who has been spreading it. It is my hope that the more these things are exposed and discussed, the more voters, even the partisan ones who almost WANT to believe the lies, begin to question them more thoroughly.
Trees & Flowers & Birds! 
You know — I’m a silly person that votes for people based on FACTS. For instance, in the upcoming Presidential election, I will probably look at voting records and such for the two candidates and decide who best meets my philosophies (I don’t think this will be an incredibly difficult job in this case). Basically I keep track of what folks say they will do, and then if they follow up on it (I’m willing to accept the fact that often people running for say, school board, don’t have a history for me to look into).
I don’t think the problem is so much the “sound bites and sensationalism” that we see, but the problem is that too many voters don’t look PAST the “sound bites and sensationalism.” If we are able to educate the masses about digging around into information the less influence smear campaigns will have.
It’s that simple. If there wasn’t an audience for this it would go away. If people read the Washington Post article, and YOUR lovely blog, and start questioning the lies …..
like Sam Cooke says — “what a wonderful would this would be”
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I’m glad you switched parties.
Mudslinging started in the 1820s with Andrew Jackson. It was rougher than it is now if you can believe it.
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i, too, am glad you switched parties.
karl rove is a sign of the apocolypse, i am convinced. dubya’s re-election campaign office was across the street from my BC’s elementary school, and i used to sneer at it every day in case karl was looking. i always found it amusing that they picked that place for their office, considering that our little hamlet, across the potomac from DC, is about as lefty and democratic a place as you can get. why house it here? because we are so freaking open.
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