"When a candidate can't run on his past and has no ideas for the future, he must destroy his opponent in the present -- which can be done by distorting his adversary's history and lying about his plans for the future.

There is a problem with this approach, however. It works only if people trust the candidate doing the distorting. Should people actually take a look for themselves and not come up with the same conclusion, the disseminator with the poor past and no plans begins to lose credibility."