When Karl Rove faults the GOP for running a sleazy ad campaign, it is apparent that US politics are getting ugly.

The ability to discern truths from rumors regarding Republican vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin has been no small feat on the Web. The Politico reports on the viral emails that have plagued Palin’s candidacy since day one.

MoveOn.org has also had their hands in online political ad tactics, anonymously buying ad space on Facebook in order to link news sites that have McCain in an unflattering light.  MoveOn.org has been buying ads on Facebook since September 5th and have purchased over 12 ads so far.

This week, however, it has been McCain’s extreme stretches of truth regarding Sen. Barack Obama’s record and position that have blurred the line between attacks and outright slander. 

Recently, McCain tried to discredit swirling Internet rumors surrounding Palin by creating online ad titled, “FactCheck” that banked on the credibility of FactCheck.org to condemn the false rumors surrounding the Alaskan Governor.  However, the online ad completely backfired after FactCheck.org, a non-partisan website that does not compare the honesty of one candidate over another, came out with a report titled, "McCain-Palin Distorts Our Findings."  In the report, Factcheck.org states, "With its latest ad, released Sept. 10, the McCain-Palin campaign has altered our message in a fashion we consider less than honest."

The New York Times reports that Factcheck.org has “cried foul on Mr. McCain more than twice as often since the start of the political conventions as it has on Mr. Obama”. 

The Obama campaign has taken a step online to counteract the rumor mills by creating a "Count the Lies" page on its McCainPedia wiki, run by the DNC’s Research, Communications and Internet teams, where it will tally the reports debunking McCain’s false claims against Obama. To date, more than 50 fact checks exposing John McCain's “lies and distortions” have been published on the page by “independent, non-partisan factcheckers.”

On Friday, Obama rebutted McCain’s smear tactics to a crowd in Dover, New Hampshire, by saying, "If you don't stop lying about me, I'm going to have to start telling the truth about you.”

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the Internet, shares his worries about the use of the Internet in spreading disinformation.  Coupled with the grey area that politicians thrive in and the power of the Internet to spread both facts and fiction, it is up to you to choose credible sources for information or fact-check what is being said on the Net by both candidates.