Topic: Election 2008
Tempest in a Teapot Are Barack Obama's Truth Squad goons coming after you?by RS Davis
(libertarian)
Monday, September 29, 2008
You know, it seems like every election cycle, people bemoan the death of honest discourse, nostalgic for a fictional golden age of politics where people talked about issues, rather than attacking the candidates personally.
Never happened. With the exception of the unanimous election of George Washington as this nation's first president, every election in this country has been pretty dirty. Hell, when Thomas Jefferson and John Adams - once and future BFFs - faced each other for the presidency, Jefferson accused Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman," and Adams shot back that Jefferson was "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."
Dirty slurs and innuendo have always been and will probably always be a part of our electoral process - that is, unless Barack Obama's "Truth Squads" have anything to say about it.
According to my local news source - KMOV - the Obama campaign has enlisted the help of Missouri prosecutors - including St Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce and St Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCullough - and law enforcement to "target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign":
They say that they are supposed to be spreading the message that Barack Obama is a Christian who wants to cut taxes for anyone who is making under $250,000 a year. Now, it's one thing to have a group of volunteers that are out to "spread the message" about their man and hit the front lines in the propaganda war - they are elected and presumably respected Democratic officials - but there is one chilling line in that report that should make us take notice: "They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws."
What does that mean? It is distressing that the news report just mentioned this offhand - the most incendiary part of the story - rather than including an actual quote from one of the law enforcement officers or prosecutors they interviewed. It stands to reason that if one of them said this to the television news crew, they have it on tape.
It's pretty shoddy journalism, to say the least. I mean, for one thing, there is no such thing as "Missouri ethics law." Missouri election law has prohibitions against only misrepresenting who sponsored a political ad, and as The Volokh Conspiracy points out, those apply "only to state and local campaigns."
So, it appears that the "Truth Squad" doesn't have much in the way of power, anyway, to go after percieved lies about Barack Obama, but that didn't stop Matt Blunt, Missouri's Republican Governor, from firing out a press release, accusing the Obama campaign of "police state tactics," of "using law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics," and asserting that the "only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election."
State Communications Director Debbie Mesloh responded that Blunt is trying "to deceive voters about the role of respected Missourians across the state who want to see this election be about the truth, not false attacks like the ones we’ve seen today."
It is clear that there isn't much that these officials could legally do - even in the face of an outright lie about Obama - short of filing civil libel or slander lawsuits. I guess they could be trying to choke the source of the information with frivolous lawsuits or planning to use other laws to harass them, but I haven't read or heard anything that would imply anything of that nature.
Truth Squadder Jennifer Joyce responded to the brouhaha, saying, "My sole purpose in participating in this initiative is about getting truthful information to the voters. This has never been or never will be about prosecuting people."
She went on to say "Clearly there are those who are attempting to twist the purpose of this initiative for their own benefit."
What's being missed in all this back and forth is that if these "Truth Sqad" members truly are planning to try to use the law to crush dissention, there is indeed cause for alarm, but there is no evidence - aside from an unattributed quote from the original broadcast - that they are even planning to do anything of the sort.
This looks more and more like a case of sloppy reporting turning into a genuine scandal, so I sent a request in to KMOV asking for the exact quote that led them to make that statement, as well as the context of the conversation that preceded it.
I'd like to know if they were pressed and questioned into saying something that was outside of their mandate as the "Truth Squad," or did they volunteer the information? I've also contacted Jessica Robinson at Governor Blunt's office to find out how, exactly, they believe the Truth Squad is going to use the law against Obama opponents.
I'll keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 9 thumbs so far
The views expressed in this
article are those of RS Davis only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. RS Davis is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Want to comment on this
article? Leave your comment here. Your email address is
required to track your comment. However, we will neither
publish your email address nor distribute it to other
organizations or persons. The only reason we might use
it would be if we needed to contact you regarding your
comment. All comments are subject to our
terms of use policy.
