Twenty years ago...the national party’s and the media could have been secure in putting out a message that was basically bogus. The public wasn’t smart enough, and we didn’t have to the tools to chase down a story.
Go look at the timeline. How long did it take to dismantle this story? Less than 24 hours? The Rather story on GW...72 hours to hit the internet, and another 24 hours to hit the major networks (well...Fox first and then a week later for the other networks).
What you are looking at is a powerful use of the internet to connect the dots and have people chase down certain aspects of a story. We can have some story start out of Provo, Utah...and FreeRepublic can have five or six guys there in town checking out facts and asking the right questions. Within 24 hours...a huge story can be corrected or dumped because of the power of the internet. The national media? Worthless from this point on.
An army of Davids.