I don't mind at all. The way I was using the word "smear" was a tad satirical. If I had not placed it in the context of being "completely true", I would have never applied the word to what I view as honest criticism.
I find a dollop of satire can act as a rhetorical Trojan horse, slipping past the filter of hostile readers. They are briefly tricked into believing the sentiment is in their favour...until the context is inverted...and for friendly readers its just a bit of fun.
But in general I think we share the concern that our society is systematically missing many important distinctions between words. Yes smear implies either untrue, or at the least undeserved or un-called for. Another veracity related distinction I fear we are losing is how "rhetoric" differs from "propaganda". Again the difference is honesty.
I did not pick up on that. My computer must be half asleep tonight (smile). You are absolutely right about using satire to make a point. Thanks for the explanation!