re: #245 palomino

And it’s not a smear to ask, “Where did your funding come from?”

A smear is more along the lines of “Obama is getting his contributions from outside sources, so he’s being funded by al-Qaeda and loves terrorists.”

If that had been all that ThinkProgress had asked, then it would not have been a smear. But when the Chamber of Commerce answered that it had safeguards to prevent foreign money from being used in political campaigns, TP didn’t drop the issue. Instead, without any clear evidence, they accused the CoC of breaking the law and went on to run an “Outrageous Outrage!!1” story about how the Chamber of Commerce “threatens our democracy!1”. It was a hatchet job, and designed to be one from the start.