Further bafflement

I know I've gone on about this before, but I am still baffled that people continue to lie in defense of their positions.  I mean, I understand that sometimes people believe that their false beliefs are true, but that's not what I'm talking about.  I mean people who have made false statements, been shown that their statements were false, and yet gone on repeating them.

Isn't a belief that has to be proven by lies a worthless thing?  Why continue to defend it?

A friend of mine is an Obama hater.  I will advance no opinion as to why he hates Obama.  Recently, he passed along a piece of propaganda that you may have seen going around the internet.  It goes like this:

Since its construction, only three times have presidents failed to go to the D-Day Monument that honors the soldiers killed on D-Day.  Those three presidents were:

1. Barack Obama 2010

2. Barack Obama 2011

3. Barack Obama 2012

I don't know who originated this little tidbit, but similar items are foisted on the public more than occasionally.  If you're in agreement with the originator, you nod your head sagely and say your Tut tuts.  We all do at least a little of this, believing things that support our way of thinking, disbelieving things that don't.  But if someone can demonstrate the falsity of a claim, why do some people continue to make the claim?

I ask because this friend of mine posted the above item in a forum a while back, and was directed to the Snopes page that debunks it.  Aside from the fact that the above mentioned "D-Day monument" is not clearly identified, Snopes points out that, in fact, presidential visits to any of the possible D-Day monuments have been the exception, rather than the rule, since Ronald Reagan made his only visit to Normandy in 1984.

Ronald Reagan visited Normandy once (40th anniversary of D-Day).

Bill Clinton visited Normandy once (50th anniversary).

George W. Bush visited Normandy twice (60th anniversary of D-Day, and also a Memorial Day visit).

Barack Obama visited Normandy once (65th anniversary).

This same friend of mine recently reposted the claim in another cyber-venue as though it were true.  Now, does my friend just hate Obama so much that he will make any statement about him that might influence others to not vote for him?  Or did my friend just start disbelieving anything published on Snopes because he wanted so much to believe what was demonstrably false?

People can have any opinion they want to, but facts are checkable.