Lies:  It is not exactly true that ‘both sides do it’
In this blog you have seen me weigh the fact checking for both conventions and conclude that, while both parties massage the truth, only one party has built nearly its entire convention message on lies that have been repeated fact checked and are not mere exaggerations, nor are they rooted in a partial truth (and thus debatable).

Salon has a detailed analysis of the fact checking on both conventions that comes to the same conclusion.  I highly recommend it if you want to base your vote on something other than fantasy and fabrication designed to mislead.

“Speaker after speaker stood up to praise the president’s record and critique Mitt Romney’s rhetoric with the sort of straightforward honesty that Americans should expect from political campaigns. That’s not to say the campaign didn’t spin the facts. Every political campaign massages the truth toward its own advantage and the Obama campaign is no different. But unlike Republicans who spouted known lie after known lie at their convention, pretty much every assertion at the DNC can be traced to some kernel of truth.”

When you hear a talking head or neighbor assert that ‘both sides do it,’ be prepared with the facts to demonstrate the important ways that this is not true, and the ways that this false equivalency provides cover for a systematic campaign designed to mislead voters (or deny them the right to vote entirely).