We All Know, or Should Know,

the GOP would in earnest go after Barack Obama with all kinds of crazy smears just as they did with Bill and Hillary Clinton:

Rush Limbaugh, currently comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler, reported that White House aide Vince Foster had been murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton. Several federal investigations eventually were required to stifle conspiracy theorists.

The so-called “mainstream” media provided little help. Fearful of the dread “liberal bias” charge, establishment reporters not only flogged the fake Whitewater scandal, but lionized figures such as Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage.

On TV, conflict builds ratings. Balance often means equating reasonable views with fantastical untruths. Ordinary viewers too often can’t tell the difference. Short of an opportunity to chronicle the exploits of the risen Michael Jackson, that’s not going to stop.

As Bob Somerby has documented relentlessly at the dailyhowler.com Web site, the 2000 presidential election probably was decided by the falsehood that Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet, the 2004 contest by the “Swift Boat” smear against Democratic nominee John Kerry. Time was when journalists andpublic figures who habitually misrepresented facts were relegated to the fringes. But that time’s gone and it ain’t coming back.

Meanwhile, an entire industry devoted to inventing calumnies against Democrats has flourished while liberal and opinion leaders havegazed thoughtfully into the ambient air. Ironically, given the current rhetoric about Obama the Nazi, its themes have always been broadly fascist, depicting liberal Democrats as the enemy within.

P.T. Barnum is alive and well and active in the GOP smear machine.