"So now the story has shifted to the question of why the left would attempt the libel in the first place, and stick to it so long in the face of contrary evidence."This is not a serious question, is it?
Look. It's easy: The American people have bought so much of the Left's baloney in the past few years--why wouldn't the Left assume that they'd by this piece of rotten baloney too?
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.
Indonesian Go Home!!