Columnists

This summer Republicans have garnered a huge amount of media attention. That was true at the September 16th Republican presidential debate where they spewed lie after lie. Now, Democrats must go on offense and counter the deluge of GOP falsehoods and misstatements.

Unfortunately, in modern politics, it’s an accepted tactic to repeat a lie over and over until it is accepted as the truth. By now, the notion that Barack Obama is a Muslim should have been discredited; nonetheless, a recent poll found that 43 percent of Republicans believe this untruth. On September 17th, Donald Trump had an opportunity to set the record straight when he took questions from his audience and a participant began, “We know our current president is [a Muslim].” Trump didn’t respond. Two days later he tweeted, “Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don't think so!” Trump’s evasiveness is self-serving as 66 percent of Trump supporters believe Obama is a Muslim.

During the Republican debate the candidates spewed a torrent of misinformation. A record 23.1 million viewers watched the September 16 program and certain falsehoods were repeated over and over. Because there was no direct Democratic response, the possibility exists that some lies were accepted as truth. Here are some egregious examples: -more-

Remember the organization “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” and its smear campaign against 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry? Named after the group, the discredited, Republican-funded campaign against Kerry became known pejoratively as “swiftboating.” -more-

Darwin's "survival of the fittest" has been twisted into a cultural monstrosity. Social Darwinism as a scientific philosophy, although discredited a very long time ago, has remnants in mainstream culture that shape most people's attitudes. -more-