Someone in the MSM said that heir influence was worth about 15%. If you think about it, if the MSM accurately and fairly reported the news about Kerry, he wouldn't even have a viable candidacy. The question is, how can we neutralize the effect of the MSM? The blogosphere, Fox News, and the fact that conservatism is, well, just cooler than foam-at-the-mouth liberalism is a big step in evening the odds.
It's mind boggling that the two Kerry "biographies" swallowed his Vietnam lies hook line and sinker, and that it took 250 SWIFTvets using the Internet to correct the record. If not for the Internet, the blogs, and FR, the truth (that Kerry is a fraud) would never have come out.
It's as if the MSM has been completely usurped by professional liars, and the only thing countering that is the existence of alternate channels of truth.