Innermost Thought

Here's an interesting letter from the Lawyers from the "Republic National Guard" to Television stations in Wisconsin airing an ad which focuses on the erroneous assertion that Iraq bought Uranium in Africa in the State of the Union earlier this year. This ad will run nationally soon.

It's almost laughable how far these tyrants are willing to go to keep their good time boy in the White House. Say what you will about the appropriateness or stupidity of including the statements in the State of the Union, their attempts to squelch free speech is deplorable. Following is the text of the commercial and the responding letter.

The Commercial
In his State of the Union address, George W. Bush told us of an imminent threat.

BUSH: Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

America took him at his word. But now we find out that it wasn't true.

The CIA knew it. The State Department knew it. The White House knew it. [New York Times, 7/6/03; NBC News, 6/26/03]

It's time to tell the truth. Hold President Bush accountable with an independent, bipartisan investigation. Go to www.democrats.org/truth to sign the petition. Because America deserves the truth.

The Republican National Committee's Lawyer sent this letter to TV stations airing the above commercial.
Dear Station Manager:

It has come to our attention that your station will begin airing false and misleading advertisements on July 21, 2003, paid for by the Democratic National Committee. The advertisement in question misrepresents President George W. Bush's January 28, 2003, State of the Union address. The advertisement states that President Bush said, "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." In fact, President Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." By selectively quoting President Bush, the advertisement is deliberately false and misleading. Furthermore, the British government continues to stand by its intelligence and asserts that it believes the intelligence is genuine.

The Democratic National Committee certainly has a legitimate First Amendment right to participate in political debate, but it has no right to willfully spread false information in a deliberate attempt to mislead the American people. These advertisements will not be run by legally qualified candidates; therefore, your station is under no legal obligation to air them. On the contrary, as an FCC licensee you have the responsibility to exercise independent editorial judgment to not only oversee and protect the American marketplace of ideas, essential for the health of our democracy, but also to avoid deliberate misrepresentations of the facts. Such obligations must be taken seriously.

This letter puts you on notice that the information contained in the above-cited advertisement is false and misleading; therefore, you are obligated to refrain from airing this advertisement.

Respectfully,

Caroline C. Hunter
Counsel

I don't know. That "you are obligated to refrain from airing this advertisement" coupled with mention of being an FCC licensee sounds like a not-so-veiled threat to me. Hmm. I wonder what other parts of the constitution and bill of rights these "patriots" are going to annihilate in the next year and a half.

That's allright. We'll have a 554 Billion dollar deficit to keep us cozy.