How to respond to smear emails

I've been thinking a lot today about the vitriol spewing from the McCain/Palin true believers, and specifically, how we can counter it (if at all).

My first impulse, when I receive a smear email from an acquaintance, is usually to tear them a new one. The way I see it, these are people who'd probably never vote for a Democrat anyway. We're not going to "convert" them, nor do we necessarily need to. But we do, as a country, need to deescalate the rhetoric, because quite frankly, there's a very real chance of violence if we don't. So my gut reaction—to respond to this crap out of anger—is not a helpful approach.

Oftentimes people forward these things thinking that a) the information is true, and b) the recipient (me) is open to the message. Replying with a link to Fight The Smears isn't the best option, because it identifies me as an Obama supporter (and therefore "in the tank"), and because people aren't going to be as receptive to "facts" published by the Obama campaign itself.

So here's my solution: an email that is ambiguous about my party affiliation (therefore allowing the smear-er to believe I'm on their side) that offers links to some non-partisan fact checking sites.

You are more than welcome ti copy-and-paste into your own emails.

Dear Bob,

I'm glad to see you're so fired up about this election. It's definitely time we, the American people, started paying more attention to who we put into office.

However, I did notice a couple of factual errors in your email. I think it's important, especially with so much riding on this election, that we make our arguments based on the evidence and the issues. It just makes our candidate look bad when we pass around false information, whether it's intentionally or by mistake. At the end of the day, what good will it be to win if we've lost our integrity to do so? Personally, I don't think it's even necessary to talk about the past, who knew who and what when—there are plenty of good reasons that will persuade people on what their plans for the future are, and that's what people are really worried about now!

So I wanted to give you these websites. All of them are non-partisan. They're great sources for sorting out truth from lies on both sides, and for fact-checking emails.

• FactCheck.org
• PolitiFact
• Snopes.com
• Snopes.com

Please check these sites before forwarding emails, and encourage your friends to do the same. Our best defense—and offense—is the truth.

Thanks,
Becky