Smear campaign
A smear campaign, or smear tactic is an effort to damage or question someone's reputation. It may apply to individuals or groups.
Smear Campaign Media
"The Great Republican Reform Party Calling on their Candidate", an 1856 political cartoon in which various "extremists", including a Catholic, press John C. Frémont, the first Republican party candidate for president of the United States, for their respective causes. There was a political campaign smear rumor current in 1856 that Fremont was a Catholic.
