While the Obama e-mail may have been started by a conservative, it has been shown that it was Hillary Clinton's campaign that has kept it alive. From Hillary staffers repeatedly forwarding the e-mail, to Bob Kerry's constant reference to "Barack Hussein Obama," to leaking the Obama Somali clothes picture, they have been working very hard to keep the "Obama Muslim" story going.

David Fryer

Long Beach, CA

To Dave Balett: I agree with the author that this is largely a conservative/Republican phenomenom. Simply listing some liberal organizations or blogs doesn't prove anything. Do you have any proof or evidence of e-mail lies and hoaxes on the liberal side, similar to the conservative ones described in this article? I would be shocked if the volume of so-called liberal smears even approach 10 percent of the volume that exists on the conservative side.

As Mr. Hayes suggest, just take a look at the e-mail hoaxes on websites like Snopes.com or truthorfiction.com. The fact is, most of these promote a conservative agenda and are intended for a conservative audience.

In my own experience, as a liberal, I receive far, far more of these conservative e-mail hoaxes and smears from relatives and even strangers who had the wrong e-mail address than I ever do of your supposed liberal examples. You may suppose that those of us on the liberal side do this, but let me tell you that by and large we do not.

Mr. Barlett, I do agree with you about the partisanship of the intended audience. I always try to respond and point out the truth when I receive these things from my conservative relatives, but it goes in one ear and out the other because the inconvenient "facts" do not match the "truth" that they want to believe.

Steve Hall

Nashville, TN

As a regular reader of both The Nation and NewsMax, along with about 30 other sources across a wide spectrum of opinions, I want to respond. I have often found both named publications to shade stories greatly to fit into onrunning and preconceived patterns.

Too many times, in all media, this happens repeatedly.

John D. Froelich

Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

There go those wascally wepublicans again, employing the old urban legend technique against Senator Clinton... Wascals!

Give me a f***ing break! Like there aren't moveon.org junkies circulating rumors, half truths and outright lies in the left-wing blogosphere about Guiliani, Romney or Dick Cheney? Just read the DailyKos any night of the week.

Intelligent people, even partisan ones, know propaganda when they read it, and anyone who really wants to know the facts about a given situation can do a minimum of research and uncover the facts, if they really care.

Smears like the Gold Star mothers situation only appeal to the most partisan of hacks, who will believe the worst of the object of the smear, anyway...

Dave Barlett

Miami, FL