If the U.S. had a functioning news establishment, perhaps McCain's lies would matter. But the Republicans have done a splendid job of establishing the myth of the "liberal" media (a "liberal" media owned by large conglomerates whose financial interests are conservative, to say the least). Any challenge of the lie can then be disputed as "liberal" bias.

Furthermore, McCain can lie not once but many times, and then feed the media a non-story about lipstick, making that the story of the day, rather than the lies.

Bruce Sterling's novel Distraction comes to my mind in regard to the present election.