First, if that is the case, then why even invest yourself emotionally in the election?  Both of our remaining candidates have weaknesses that can (and yes probably will) be exploited in ads.  The question is if it means that there's no way of fighting back.

That's where I think the fear is misplaced.  The game has changed since 2004.  New strategies have changed the fund raising landscape to the point where we will have a dominant lead in resources.  More importantly, the political world is much different now than it was then.

It's easy to forget this now, but Bush actually was pretty popular in 2004.  Katrina hadn't happened yet.  The housing bubble was a concern of some obscure blogs.  Iraq wasn't yet seen as the money pit that it is now.  There's a lot more to pin on the Republicans than there was then, and we'll be able to go after McCain's statements themselves, not things that his friends said.  Political ads will still work, but only around the edges.

Yes, the smear machine is something we should be concerned about, but not to the point where we're doing their work for them and then saying, "See!  I told you we couldn't win!"  

I see fighting off these attacks as being similar to shoring up a building that might be a target for terrorists.  Reinforce its strengths.  Keep an eye out for enemies.  Fight back when you see a problem.  If some of the posters here were in charge of protecting infrastructure, their method would be to put explosives on a bridge at rush hour and see if anyone died when they set them off.  Taking the role of the smear machine is not the way to protect us from it.