@davew In the end money overruled all reason. It pays more to let them lie, then print their lies verbatim as if that's enough on its own. People will surely just get on their own that it's a lie, right? (The funny thing is, apparently memetic thinking is so powerful that even knowing it is a lie still affects people's thought patterns when they see it repeated enough.) And of course the right knows this and has taken full advantage...
(And yes, a handful on the left too. It needs to stop)