New Orleans, 6 0

An interesting collection of opinions:

Are we number one? Harold Meyerson isn’t sure.

Even as Mr. Bush claims he doesn’t want to play the blame game, the Karl Rove character assassination game goes into high gear.

Now, I’m not a big Bush fan, but it is not taking political sides to observe that this administration has always played the game of character assassination, from starting rumors during the South Carolina primary in 2000 that John McCain had an illegitimate child by a black woman to the whole “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” scam.

And they have gotten away with it because Americans, by and large, want to believe that their candidates are, at least, reasonably honest; therefore, bald-faced lies get a hearing. And the politicians on the other side (whichever side it is) expect attacks that twist and spin their statements, but don’t expect attacks that are bald-faced lies, so, when they are presented with those attacks, they don’t know how to respond.

In other news, it looks like a bunch of left-leaning bloggers got sucked into a misrepresentation of what a German news report actually said. Here’s how Daniel Rubin summarized it on Blinq:

The Dutchman, Frank Tiggelaar, wrote that unlike CNN, “PDF News reported that the president’s visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of NeWS people had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time.”

Only one problem. He was wrong. I asked Inquirer reporter Christian Meier, a six-month fellow from Bonn, to translate the Sept. 2 PDF report.

[EDITORIAL MODE ON]

I have nothing against opinions and against expressing opinions–heaven knows, I have enough of my own and I’m not shy about expressing them in the appropriate forums–but, before we express them, we should try to determine the facts. Our opinions should be based on the facts, not vice versa.

Facts cannot be based on opinions–the moment we use opinions to create facts, we are no longer dealing in facts. We are dealing in lies.

And that something appears on the internet does not make it a fact. Indeed, the gossipy old ladies in my home town were a more reliable source of information than the internet.

Check it once, check it twice, and check it once again.

[EDITORIAL MODE OFF]