Debra Medina is a tea parties/Ron Paul-style candidate for governor of Texas. I'm not a Medina supporter [1].

At the same time, some of those attacking and smearing her are even worse, and in general I tend to prefer an open dialogue about issues rather than attempts to quash debate.

So, if you'd like to strike back against those attacking her, one of the best things you can do is to help me discredit those in the news media or blogs who've smeared or lied about her. Going after Glenn Beck is fruitless due to his popularity, so by that I mean concentrating on those at a lower level. And, "discrediting" doesn't mean pointing out how you disagree with their opinions. It means catching them in lies and misleading statements in order to reduce their credibility.

But, simply catching them in misleading statements isn't enough: you have to arrange it so that their supporters can then find out that they aren't trustworthy. There are various ways to do that, as discussed on this page. That page is about blocking amnesty, but the general idea applies in this case also.

For a tangible example of something you can do, write about Erick Erickson on your website, and in the post create a link just like that. Doing that might cause that post to rise in search engines, thereby increasing the chances that someone searching for his name might find out that he isn't credible. The same applies to Dave Weigel and the many other reporters discussed here.

For instance, just based on this post, Jason Embry of the Austin American Statesman seems more like an establishment hack than a true journalist who questions everything. I'm not familiar with his work, but I'd suggest looking through his past entries to see if you can compile a list of any lies and misleading statements. Then, compile those on a web page somewhere where others can find it (such as at your site or sites like Wikia).

Another way to discredit those types of people is to leave comments on their entries pointing out how what they say in the post doesn't match up with reality or otherwise questioning their credibility. That tends to lead to deleted comments, but it can be very effective.

[1] This isn't a Medina-supporting site because she's in the libertarian/tea parties camp. While her position on border security (medinafortexas.com/secureBorder.php) sounds good, she also wants Texas to "promote healthy immigration" (medinafortexas.com/issues.php), which might be code for massive immigration and guest workers. However, this post isn't about that, it's about what her supporters can do to help her.