John Kerry has no problem with moveon.org-style ads that portray Bush as Hitler. He lauds Michael Moore's film that portrays American troops as racist jackbooted thugs. He asserts that these are independent groups that he has no control over. Yet Kerry has no problem hiring staff from moveon.org, and seems to be willing to let Moore energize the Democrat base.
But let some veterans speak up about their distrust of Senator Kerry, let hem tell about their feelings of betrayal, let them accuse the would-be commander-in-chief of slander and disloyalty -- in short, let them "speak truth to power" -- and Senator Kerry acts. Not content to simply whine about the nasty things being said, Senator Kerry sues to make them stop.
So far, Kerry has sued at the FEC to ban the ads, and his supporters have demanded that booksellers blacklist the critical "Unfit for Comamnd" book. Some have gone so far as to deface bookseller's websites. And this guy lectures Bush on 1st Amendment rights!
Kerry bases his charges on an outrageous New York Times hit piece on the Swiftboat vets who oppose him. The piece claims, through a convoluted web of inuendo and conspiratorial fantasy, that Bush is secretly controlling and funding the vets:
Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family - one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election.Strange charges from someone who has somehow managed to arrange for "independent 527 groups" like moveon.org to take up the advertising slack for him over the next few weeks.