Do Republicans Get This Kind of Email?

Campaign rumors run rampant on the internet, and one of the recent ones circulated about McCain's undervetted, inexperienced Veep nominee was that she fired her librarian in a spat over Palin's desire to ban a long list of books. One email purported to list all the books that Palin sought to ban - a lengthy list, including many classics.

It wasn't true. Someone somewhere took a list of frequently targeted books and claimed that Palin went after all of them. She didn't.

What happened next, though, illustrates the difference between the right and the left in American politics. Literally within hours of receiving the list of banned books, I received an email from a leftwing source highlighting this article, disavowing the list of banned books, telling us not to forward it, and effectively shutting down this falsehood. The subject line of the email was direct - "Don't Forward that List of Palin Banned Books."

The reason that you haven't been treated to a press cycle questioning why Palin banned "My Friend Flicka" is because the left did an effective job of self-policing.

Republicans have no such self-discipline. When a lie springs into the conversation, the Republicans have learned to encourage it and make certain that it becomes part of the accepted truthiness of the world. Gore never claimed to invent the internet, but it is probably his best-known alleged claim.

It's so bad that the Democratic Party has found it necessary to create a "Count the Lies" website, listing 52 lies from the McCain campaign itself. These are all documented falsehoods, and you don't see anyone on the right circulating any emails telling people not to forward them.

It's discouraging sometimes to see how broadly and brazenly the right wing spreads malicious falsehoods, and it's even tempting to play a tit for tat game. But, in the long run, I'm proud that the left wing bloggers have a firmer grip on reality and a higher ethical standard than those who would have us believe that Palin rejected the Bridge to Nowhere.

(Note: We don't know which books Palin sought to ban, though it's true she inquired about how to go about banning books. She claims to have fired the Wasilla Librarian because she "didn't fully support her". Personally, I think it's creepy enough that Palin thought she was entitled to full support from a librarian.)