I agree that this sort of thing is a problem; but I suspect that it is one that we are wise to have, for the most part, not tried to litigate away.
Even if you ignore attempts at actually-clandestine cloak 'n dagger disinformation spreading; it’s just not that hard to couch innuendo in terms that aren’t technically libelous(‘asking questions’, push polling, true statements that ‘I heard a rumor that XYZ…’); and most of the good political lies work so well because they are something that people already suspect or want to believe(in Kerry’s case, it’s practically an article of faith in American politics that democrats are spineless wimps on defense; so even the most tenuous poking at Kerry’s record was always enough to make noise; and absolutely nothing could convince the faithful that Bush had basically skipped the war thanks to daddy). Plus, given how much people like a good conspiracy theory; is “The Truth that Liberal Trial Lawyers have Made Illegal!!!” really going to count against whatever libel lost a lawsuit?
On the other side, there would be obvious applications in chilling ‘off message’ reporters and other nuisances.
I don’t like the fact that flagrant dishonesty is a great tactic in the democratic process; but it’s one of those situations where I just don’t imagine litigation being a net benefit(especially since elections are at known times, and winning is considered important enough that losing a libel case but winning the election would probably be just dandy for many people: so, just hold off the really outrageous and unsupportable stuff until close enough to the election that the case will barely have ground through boring procedural stuff before the election is already over).
i’m not particularly sure anybody actually believes this stuff. not as actual facts at any rate.
more likely they just believe obama is bad, liberals are bad, scientists are bad. those “other people” are not to be trusted. it doesn’t matter if the particulars are right so long as those people are being denounced.
i also think people must be getting social “points” for this – some sort of positive reenforcement of the crazy. it definitely lets everybody know what side you are on.
Other people with early onset dementia. The smaller the town, the older the voters. The only reason people over 65 still have the vote is because right wing parties know they are their core supporters. Why, I only have a lawn so I can tell kids to get off it.
Back in the 1970s I had my suits made to order by a local tailor. The conversation was a little different in tone but not in general content. I can’t see anything unreasonable in LBJ’s comments given that he was ordering bespoke, and in reasonable quantities.
If I still lived within walking distance of a bespoke tailor, I’d still have my trousers made to order.
LBJ had a knack for crudely denigrating others. He was quoted as having said about Gerald Ford that “he couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time.” But the press lightened what LBJ had actually said: “he couldn’t fart and chew gum at the same time.”
Well, I disagree. Perhaps the originators of the various Obama myths are creating those stories as part of a very calculated smear campaign, and don’t actually believe, but they are supplying it to an audience who will believe it to the very core. I have talked to some of them, you can’t reason with them, and they aren’t faking it.
I assume she has first hand experience. (crosspost from www.obamaslashfic.com - I have no idea if this is a real site and I’m not clicking it to find out)
Or as Schiller said, Against stupidity even the Gods struggle in vain (Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens).
Perhaps the explanation for Texas is that the gods have just given up and gone home.
Who said she was a Mayor of someplace? She’s not, and never has been. She’s running for Board of Education, after a career as a teacher. I’m not saying she’s not an idiot, just that nobody has ever been idiotic enough to elect her Mayor of anyplace.
