the cause. Just as in the fable, when the swindlers set the stage for their scam by telling the Emperor that the cloth they spun from gold was invisible to stupid people or those unfit for their positions, humans can be motivated to refuse to see the Truth. I have always felt that was the key part of The Emperor’s New Clothes story, not that it took an innocent to state the obvious. Hence I, too, had the wrong version of the Truth in my mind when I went searching for information about Susan Fox Rutledge. I found more than I expected. * * * Governor Daniels, the presumptive GOP nominee, introduced SFR as his VP selection before the July 4th holiday weekend. They timed it intentionally since little important news would happen for several days, and so his surprise selection and SFR’s striking visage would dominate coverage. She could make a favorable first impression with the public. Many voters would first discuss her appearance, rather than her relative lack of experience for the job, giving the Daniels campaign time to spin that. Like most Americans I had no knowledge of SFR, except I recognized her name from long lists of potential VP candidates, with hers typically near the bottom. Since I had no plans that July 4th weekend, unlike most Americans, I had time to search the web to learn all about her. In particular, I wanted to know why I hadn’t heard about the beautiful woman in Congress who had had a baby just a few months before. This is when citizen journalists, including me, became part of the story. Like tens of thousands of others that fateful day, I sat down at my computer and did a few web searches. For me, it was the combination of news stories and web board commentary that convinced me something strange had happened.