I think that it has become commonplace to release news stories that have no basis in reality because even after they have been proven false, the story will stick around in the back of voters' minds. 2 things that come to mind right off the bat are the CBS report about Bush's military records that were released right before the last election, and the spin put on the Dubai ports deal. The CBS documents were simply fake, and as for the ports security deal, everyone eventually realized that the job would be done by the same longshoremen that have always done it. Nevertheless, people that want to believe these things are true paid no attention to the second half of the debate and it still made an impact on approval ratings. The reason people use smear tactics in politics is because it works. There's nothing that can be done about that until America becomes more informed about both sides of the political debate, and right now, that doesnt look like it will ever happen.
