It really comes down to marketing. They are very good at making up stuff ("death panels"), stereotyping (welfare queens buying Cadillacs [Reagan]), and driving home a message. Fox News, radio, the Washington Times all put out a single message, responding to all things, all the time. For example, to get Obama's Bin Laden story off the front page, they drummed up a story about the singer Common. To derail his peace efforts, they lied about the controversial "67 borders" issue.
The history of political so-called 'debate' in this country is populated with such foolishness for the last 3 odd years.