SwiftVets.com

[Hueygunner]

http://www.courier-journal.com/cjextra/editorials/letters/wednesday.html

(note: the URL is "recycled" and the topics discussed change each week. The letters to the editor were printed in the C-J on Wednesday, 11 August 2004.)

`An independent ad' . . .

I was in total agreement with G. Chaise Nunnally's Aug. 7 Editorial Notebook. The media do tend to emphasize and focus on the minutiae while ignoring the differences between the candidates' ideas and positions in this season's presidential campaign.

Interestingly enough, the lead editorial in the same issue, while attempting to bring focus to the serious issue of candidate credibility, prints slightly less than truthful facts with shades of innuendo. The ad against Sen. John Kerry's war record is not a "Bush ad" or "the Bush campaign's latest attack." It is an independent ad from a group of veterans who remember Kerry differently than those standing on the platform at the Democratic National Convention.

Wouldn't it have been responsible journalism to obtain comments from those Vietnam veterans about the origin and content of the ad? Perhaps if the swiftboat officers in this ad were given as much Courier-Journal attention as Kerry supporters, readers could "fulfill their constitutional role as voters."

J.R. ROWLAND

Louisville 40291

. . . `Just not accurate"

The swiftboat veterans' ad against Sen. John Kerry clearly has a disclaimer at the end stating that it is "not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

How can you say Sen. John McCain condemned "the Bush campaign" or that McCain's battle cry is over "a Bush ad"? That's just not accurate.

By the way, this soft money ad is a result of McCain's efforts to limit campaign contributions.

GARY LORENZEN

Crestwood, Ky. 40014

. . . `Such hypocrisy!'

Isn't it interesting? Michael Moore's hatchet job on President Bush is lauded as an expression of free speech, and the Vietnam swiftboat veterans' effort to express their views about Sen. John Kerry is labeled "political pornography" by a politician on a recent TV news program, and TV stations are threatened with lawsuits if they show it. Such hypocrisy!

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The letter about Michael Moore's movie being applauded while the SwiftVetsCom ad is attacked hits the nail on the head.