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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (58347)	8/5/2004 10:02:53 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793866

I posted this because it shows Kerry's lawyers misrepresenting the Swift boat people. Bad move, IMO. Kerry Campaign Tries to Shut Down Ad Via Drudge: DNC Lawyers Work To Muzzle Swift Boat Vets' Ad HUMAN EVENTS has obtained a copy of a letter which lawyers for the Democratic National Committee and John Kerry have sent to television station managers attempting to suppress the blistering anti-Kerry TV spot created by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (click here to view the ad) and first reported here on HumanEventsOnline.com. The letter claims the ad is "false" and "libelous" and suggests, in not-so-subtle terms, that TV stations should use their "legal authority" to refuse any requests for advertising airtime, stating that "because your station has this freedom [to refuse the ad], and because it is not a 'use' of your facilities by a clearly identified candidate, your station is responsible for the false and libelous charges made by this sponsor" (emphasis added). As their first piece of evidence of the ad's supposed lies, the DNC/Kerry lawyers claim that the veterans in the ad "purport to have served on Senator Kerry's SWIFT Boat in Vietnam" but, "in fact, not a single one of the men who pretend to have served with Senator Kerry was actually a crewmate of Senator Kerry's." The problem is that none of these men claimed to have served on Kerry's SWIFT Boat. They simply said they "served with John Kerry" -- and they did. The letter goes on to make several more misleading statements about the advertisement, in an attempt to protect Kerry's "war hero" record. Click here to see the letter. Also, the Swift Boat Vets have responded to McCain's criticism of the ad: "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has more than 250 members, many of whom were wounded or highly decorated in Vietnam. We purchased with our blood and service the right to be heard, to set the record straight about our unit, and to tell the truth about John Kerry's military service record. We respect Senator McCain's right to express his opinion and we hope he extends to us the same respect and courtesy, particularly since we served with John Kerry, we knew him well and Senator McCain did not." Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (ret.), Founder and Chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Update: I think this threat from the Kerry campaign was a bad move, it makes them look like they are hiding something and increases interest in the ad. You would have thought they would have learned their lesson from their handling of the NASA pictures. Can you imagine what the reaction would have been in the media if the Bush campaign had sent a letter like this to Michael Moore. For the all the talk of censorship we here about by people like Moore, this is the first real example I have seen of it. As Tim Robbins would say, "there is a chill wind blowing", only this time he would be right. nerepublican.blogspot.com