Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reads that the President has asked that the Swift Boat Vets stop running their ads. But he also added that other 527’s should stop their ads too.
Well Mr. President, your Maximum Leader hates to tell you this, but none of it will stop. It will not stop because it is legal and effective.
Your Maximum Leader got a real chuckle out of John Edwards’ demand that the President “take responsibility and demand that the ad come off the air.” That is a laugh. Responsibility for what exactly? Is the president responsible for the ad? No. Do people responsible for the ad have connections to Bush people? Well yes. Your Maximum Leader would be shocked if they didn’t. It is the duty of politicians to find people who will give them money with which they run their campaigns. And those people can also give money to other groups (and frequently do).
Your Maximum Leader believes this is a type of political speech. You find out who agrees with your positions on various issues, and then support them by volunteering or buying their publications, or making donations to them. Why should people stop giving money to legal organizations with which they agree?
They shouldn’t.
Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe it is the duty of the President Bush to tell the people he knows affiliated with the Swift Boat Vets group to stop their ads. Nor does your Maximum Leader believe that Senator Kerry should tell the people he knows affiliated with Moveon.org that they should stop their ad campaigns.
Some people say that the difference between Moveon and Swift Boat Vets is that the Vets are lying. Great! Senator Kerry should sue them. Lying is not protected speech. No court in the land would allow outright lies to be publically disseminated. Unless of course the lies aren’t outright lies but differences of opinions based on sometimes obscure facts.
As your Maximum Leader has written before, John Kerry is a certified war hero in his book. He served with distinction while in Vietnam. Your Maximum Leader hasn’t cared for much of what John Kerry has done publically in the years since his return from Vietnam. That doesn’t diminish his war service, but it also doesn’t give him a free pass to be president.
Carry on.
