Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader just read over the last posting by the Smallholder. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure why he might call Bob Dole a fool. He certainly isn’t. He ran his campaign the way he wanted to. Bravo to him. But he certainly doesn’t seem to be dismissing the Swifties. He’s even talked to Kerry about it. A very salient point in this discussion was in fact, brought up by Senator Dole. He said:

He said he was very disappointed, we’d been friends. I said John, we’re still friends, but [the Swiftvets] have First Amendment rights, just as your people have First Amendment rights.

Your Maximum Leader has said before that these organizations, as much as your Maximum Leader dislikes them, have a right to say what they will.

As for dishonesty, what precisely are the Swifties being dishonest about n their ads? They seem to have different opinions about what went on in Vietnam than does John Kerry.

And why should the president ask the Swifties to stop running their ads? Should the president endorse the curtailing of free speech by people with the money and the legal right to speak? As your Maximum Leader mentioned before, free speech doesn’t entitle you to lie. If the Swifties are lying they should be sued. The most recent Swiftie ad that your Maximum Leader saw on a news talk program is condemning Kerry for his anti-war stance after returning from Vietnam. What is dishonest about that? He was very vocally anti-war. Is this proof that you can’t have it both ways? You can’t be an anti-war war hero without pissing off lots of people…

Your Maxmimum Leader doesn’t doubt that Bush (or another close to him) could get the group to pull the ads. But why should he? What is his compelling reason to do so? Your Maximum Leader doesn’t see one. While your Maximum Leader (and the president) both believe that Kerry should be proud of his war service (and your Maximum Leader has called Kerry a war hero many times), it doesn’t mean that those attacking his war record are being dishonest. From what your Maximum Leader has read, some of these men have been saying these things about Kerry for years and years. But are now just getting attention because Kerry has thrown himself into the presidential ring.

And as for Moveon.org… Isn’t comparing Bush and Hitler (like they did in ads earlier this year) a little much? (Full disclosure: Moveon.org, after much public outcry, did remove the ads from their website. But thanks to the wonders of the internet, they are still out there - hence the link.)

527s continue to be a problem for the campaigns. Your Maximum Leader believes more a problem for Bush than for Kerry actually. But these people have a right to say what they will.

Carry on.