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Re: "the lies seem possessed of uncanny sticking power. "
There is nothing "uncanny" about it. We all know what is happening. A string of White House bloggers, most likely on the government payroll, are blasting out streams of e-mail, repeating this rumour to every e-mail address on their lists. That is what is happening.
As to the conventional wisdom of "Ignoring" the rumours, that is what John Kerry did with theSwiftboat ads and we saw where that got him.
The fact is that the Republican smear machine is as well oiled as it was in the days of lee Atwater: Just updated for the internet and cable TV.
The fact also is that our Mainstream media will do absolutely nothing to counter these smears as they are too "objective" todo anything other than just repeat the smear, then allow two political operatives (Right and Left, or just Right if it's FoxNews) to yell back and "let the viewer decide"). Of course the possibility of actually checking facts is out of the question: That might require actual research and WORK.
So Barak Obama's only option is to counter the mudslinging, hard and often. Otherwise we can expect to see headlines in November reading, "Democratic Muslim Candidate for President loses in a landslide!"
