J.L. Bell runs the numbers on Snopes.com's database of internet rumors and finds out that President Obama has been the target of many more rumors than President Bush -- and that rumors about Obama are far more likely to be false than rumors about Bush:

After eight years in the White House (with Snopes.com around all that time), George W. Bush has been the subject of 47 internet rumors. After less than two years in office, Barack Obama has been the subject of 87, or nearly twice as many.

Even more telling is the relative accuracy of those stories. For Bush, 20 rumors, or 43%, are true. Only 17, or 36%, are false. The remainder are of mixed veracity (4), undetermined (4), or unclassifiable (2).

In contrast, for Obama only 8 of the 87 rumors, or 9%, are true, and a whopping 59, or 68%, are whoppers. There are 17 of mixed veracity and 3 undetermined.

To most people, Bell's analysis will provide yet more evidence that the right-wing noise machine is fueled by fabrication and falsehood. (Just ask J.D. Hayworth, who is putting birtherism front and center in his primary challenge against John McCain.)

You can't just write this off as "the internet is growing." According to Bell's numbers, on an annual basis there are more than 8 times as many viral rumors about Obama than Bush -- and those rumors are more likely to be false. Moreover, Bell found that there were more rumors about Kerry's 2004 campaign than McCain's 2008 campaign and those rumors were more likely to be false.

Of course, if you're a Glenn Beck devotee, you'll just disregard Bell's analysis as yet another example proving that Snopes.com is part of the conspiracy. Better watch out!

http://www.dailykos.com/