I’M MAD AS HELL
AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE
I’d like to suggest everyone write, phone and email the press any time they peddle the GOP spin that Vice President Gore is "a serial exaggerator". Color none of us shocked - - when backed into a corner, the GOP attacks with a stereotype - - meet Al Gore the Weasel King, Al Gore the Carpetbagger, Al Gore the Clinton Clone. The last thing the GOP wants us to do is compare his policy proposals and record to the GOP’s latest offering.
The GOP doesn’t care that this "low road" approach turns the voters off. They want the majority to feel disgusted with politics as usual. They want us to feel as alienated as possible from the Democratic process. And why? They know a low voter turn out always favors the Republicans.
Don’t let the GOP control your life!
Fight back with the truth!!
Fight back with your vote!!!
Below is a letter I emailed to CNN and just about every other news organization in America on 10/22/2000:
An Open Letter To CNN:
Dear CNN Editor:
I saw your show "Crossfire", which aired on October 20. Tonight, in checking your transcript of that show, I see that you have deleted a section in which Larry Flynt accused Texas Governor George W. Bush of being involved in an illegal abortion in the early 1970s.
I find this very strange behavior on the part of a news organization. Flynt’s accusation, as I understood it at the time, was simply that, an accusation. I did not assume it to be true because Flynt said he had proof. But for some reason your organization chose to remove Flynt’s remarks from the Crossfire transcript. This deletion becomes even more disturbing to me in light of the months CNN has spent airing reports that accuse Vice President Gore of "lying" and "exaggerating", without bothering to do the minimal amount of research that would prove these charges are not simply false, but the product of a Republican smear campaign.
Why does the Vice President come under such rigorous scrutiny as a potential "serial exaggerator" while embarrassing accusations about Governor Bush are removed from CNN transcripts? As a viewer, the best conclusion I can draw is that CNN does not care about journalistic ethics. The worst conclusion I can draw is that CNN has some hidden political agenda.
I urge CNN to update their transcript with the entire "Crossfire" broadcast.
cc: 2020@abc.com, netaudr@abc.com, niteline@abc.com, journal@ajc.com,
arianna@ariannaonline.com, freep@aristotle.net, letters@augustachronicle.com,
letters@azstarnet.com, comments@brillscontent.com, realitycheck@cbsnews.com,
letters@cd.columbus.oh.us, info@cnbc.com, hardball@cnbc.com, rivera@cnbc.com,
capgang@cnn.com, crossfire@cnn.com, cnn.feedback@cnn.com, reliable@cnn.com,
talkback@cnn.com, WAM@cnn.com, wsjcontact@cor.dowjones.com, letters@courant.com,
tom@csmonitor.com, journal@c-span.org, viewer@c-span.org, letters@denverpost.com,
letters@denver-rmn.com, letters@detnews.com, netmail@detnews.com, letters@express-news.net,
fair@fair.org, fj@flintj.com, beltway@foxnews.com, colmes@foxnews.com, crier@foxnews.com,
hannity@foxnews.com, o'reilly@foxnews.com, editpg@freepress.com, letter@globe.com,
letters@gw.postnet.com, heralded@herald.com, dmcmane@iht.com, editors@interactive.wsj.com,
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DailyNews.Opinion@phillynews.com, news@register-herald.com, salon@salonmagazine.com,
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schapman@tribune.com, tuletter@tu.infi.net, Talkback@turner.com, letters@uniontrib.com,
editor@usatoday.com, letters@usnews.com, webpost@washingtonpost.com,
bobcollins@wgnradio.com, SteveBertrand@wgnradio.com, UPN9news@wwortv.com
WHAT’S MISSING FROM THE CNN TRANSCRIPT?
NOVAK: Mr. Flynt, never let it be said
that we censor any of our guests here
on CROSSFIRE, and you said you
wanted to talk about the election. Tell
me what you wanted to say.
FLYNT: Well, during the impeachment
debacle, we did an investigation which
resulted in the resignation of Bob
Livingston and others and we have
continued this investigation and for
eight months we've been looking into
George W. Bush's background. And
we've found out in the early 1970s he
was involved in an abortion in Texas,
and I just think that it's sad that the
mainstream media, who's aware of this
story, won't ask him that question
when they were able to ask him the
drug question without any proof at all,
and we've got all kinds of proof on this
issue.
NOVAK: Well, you're...
FLYNT: You know, the guy admitted
he was a drunk for 20 years, and if the
abortion issue is true then that puts him
lower on the morality scale than Bill
Clinton.
NOVAK: Mr. Flynt, you said if it's true
and you have no proof of that. I gather
you are a very strong...
FLYNT: The hell we don't have proof.
Below is a letter I emailed to the Washington Post on 10/10/2000:
To whom it may concern:
I was pleased to see Michael Kinsley finally discuss some of the policy proposals presented by the candidates in the Vice Presidential debates ("Lies The Press Likes" 10/10/00). Mr. Kinsley states that he "spent five or 10 minutes surfing the Bush-Cheney Web site" in order to check some of Mr. Cheney’s statements about the Republican proposals. I am disturbed however, that Mr. Kinsley glibly parrots the idea that Vice President Gore "lies", "fibs" and is guilty of "fabrications" and "embroideries" without spending at least as much time checking those "facts".
There continues to be an implication that the Vice President was involved in some sort of illegal fundraising in 1996. In fact, the evidence shows that these accusations have no substance. (Please see Sean Wilentz’s article "Will Pseudo-Scandals Decide the Election?" from Vol. 11, Issue 21 of American Prospect online.) Also, there have been published reports of the media’s creation of the more trivial "Gore lies" since before last summer. (I urge you to check the Guardian Unlimited’s 6/12/00 article "No Nose For Truth", Bob Somerby’s website "The Daily Howler" and, most recently, Molly Dickenson’s article "Who’s Lying? Gore or the Media?", from the 10/8/00 edition of TomPaine.com.) Among the "Gore lies" which have been traced back to the media misquoting the Vice President are: Gore’s claim to have "invented" the Internet, his claim to have "discovered" Love Canal and his "lying" about being a model for a character in the novel ‘Love Story’.
The fact that the Washington Post continues to refer these media distortions and partisan smears as the Vice President’s "lies" is nothing less than shocking. As a reader, the best conclusion I can draw is that the Washington Post does not care about journalistic ethics. The worst conclusion I can draw is that the Post’s writers and editors have some hidden political agenda.
I urge the Post to print a retraction and an apology to Vice President Gore.
Ouch! I only came for the Smirk jokes.
Get me back to the The Possum County Daily Flapdoodle
