wombat_socho

The definition of "smear campaign" is one I was introduced to during my two runs for the Minnesota House, e.g. "presenting true facts about your opponent that said opponent finds hard to explain to their constituents".

Yeah, there's the issue. My definition has always included a necessary component of deliberate fact-twisting. Depending where you look for a definition, too, there are references supporting both your and my definitions of the word.

Getting back to Quayle, what I was trying to get at is that the media didn't really have to do anything other than quote the man. I bought a book back during the Bush Sr./Quayle years that I found fascinating, simply for the audacity of it. It was listed in the humor section of the bookstore, and all it was, was a collection of verbatim Quayle speeches. The "author" of the book merely put chapter headings between the quotes, and that was it.

(Pardon any grammar problems -- your "reply" boxes have gotten rather narrow, and so I'm typing blind.)