[VOA]

Lawyers for the DNC and Kerry-Edwards sent this letter to television station managers,
claiming the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ad is "false" and "libelous."

Yep, Democrats are the authorities on The First Amendment.
When it comes to muzzling Christian speech and telling the truth about Democrats!

[Flush-the-Johns-2004]

Freep the heck out of their offices.

[RoseofTexas]

I am so UPSET I am spiting NAILS as I type this!!! WHERE THE F did freedom of speech GO?!!! ARE we suppose to just put our tails between our legs and run?!! Has USA become the former USSR?? Where the hell did FREE AMERICA vanish to for republicans?? GAWDDDD!

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Wow! UNBELIEVABLY boneheaded move on Team TerAYza's part, if so (and the letter certainly seems to confirm that)!

Had they simply ignored it, as (say) GWB refused to acknowledge MoveOn's loathsome "Hitler" ad -- Kerry (and his kid partner, Breck Girl) would have planted an image of themselves, in the electorate mass-mind, as being calm, confident and rational. "We abhor horrid accusations such as these" (they should have said), "but are confident that the American people, having seen/read them, will promptly reject such groundless blah blah blah," and you get the picture.

NOW, however...? NOW: they've managed to accomplish the bizarrely counter-intuitive feat of making themselves seem both unaccountably panic-stricken and given to distasteful lawyer-type bone-rattlings towards any/all who dare displease them -- simultaneously, mind!

A quick glance at the responses being posted at the kindergarten side of the schoolhouse, however (i.e., the DU boards), shows that no one over there seems to realize the staggering enormity of the latest Kerry/Edwards blunder, either... so: it may simply be some weird, congenital lacking on the parts of 'rats overall, ultimately.

Oh, well. THEIR funeral. :)

[AUsome Joy]

I think that there is an overall organization of Swift Boat veterans, and within that is the organization of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Swift_Boat_Veterans_for_Truth

"The Swift Boat Vets for Truth include the entire chain of command above Kerry: Lt. Commander Grant Hibbard, Lt. Commander George Elliott, Captain Charles Plumly, Captain Adrian Lonsdale USCG (retired) and Rear Admiral Hoffmann (retired), as well as enlisted men, officers, men who served with Mr. Kerry, men who served in the same group of Swift boats and men intimately familiar with the operations and conduct of Swift boat operations during the war. The group also includes James Zumwalt, Lt. Colonel, U.S.M.C. (retired), representing his father, Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt, and brother, Lt. Elmo Russell Zumwalt III, both deceased."

[AUsome Joy]

I think that there is an overall organization of Swift Boat veterans, and within that is the organization of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Swift_Boat_Veterans_for_Truth

"The Swift Boat Vets for Truth include the entire chain of command above Kerry: Lt. Commander Grant Hibbard, Lt. Commander George Elliott, Captain Charles Plumly, Captain Adrian Lonsdale USCG (retired) and Rear Admiral Hoffmann (retired), as well as enlisted men, officers, men who served with Mr. Kerry, men who served in the same group of Swift boats and men intimately familiar with the operations and conduct of Swift boat operations during the war. The group also includes James Zumwalt, Lt. Colonel, U.S.M.C. (retired), representing his father, Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt, and brother, Lt. Elmo Russell Zumwalt III, both deceased."

[JoeGar]

What's the term used when one files a lawsuit, or threatens to file a lawsuit, just to take away your right of free speech? Is is a SLAM? a SLAMM? What's the term?

[GretchenM]

OMGosh, you read the text and could fall off the chair laughing. One man "pretending to be the doctor who treated Senator Kerry [emphasis mine] for one of his injuries... " ... "the men who pretend to have served with Senator Kerry" ... "the statements made by the phony 'crewmates' and 'doctor' [...] are false and libelous."

The letter claims (cough) that Kerry didn't lie before the Senate. (cough cough)

"Your station is responsible for the false and libelous charges made by this sponsor. ... you have an overriding duty 'to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.'" [Now why can't that apply to news coverage?]

"Your station may not responsibly air this advertisement."

Here's hoping the TV stations' attorneys are all over this to bring the execs' heads back to front and center. As the Good Book says, the first man to tell his side of the story sounds right, till you hear the second man.

[mcg1969]

Hannity reading this fax on the air NOW.

[DoctorZIn]

This article has been posted to DoctorZin’s New News Blog!

[Uncle Vlad]

Gee, the "Bush is Hitler" crowd can dish it out, but it can't take it.

[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you for posting this. I point out the obvious, that this letter was written by KNOWN LAWYERS. And based on the affiliations below their names, these two also associate with many other KNOWN LAWYERS. Certainly, many of these lawyers are even (shudder!) TRIAL LAWYERS.

So there are as many, if not more, reasons to believe that the letter written by the lawyers is a bald-faced lie, as it is to believe that of the ad from the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. Come to think of it, has anyone ever heard of an organization called "Lawyers for Truth"? I thought not.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Backbenchers in Boston, The Unnoticed Democrats "

If you haven't already joined the anti-CFR effort, please click here.

[Snoopers-868th]

"Moreover, as a licensee, you have an overriding duty 'to protect the public from false, misleading, or deceptive advertising."

I guess that takes care of giving Kerry any media time!!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

O'Reilly and Dick Morris are trashing the ad.

They are idiots.

[Chu Gary]

Well DNC,

Bring on the lawsuit. I suspect that the Swift Boat Vets would be happy to back up there assertions.