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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 07/28/2005 : 18:55:39
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This article http://www.factcheck.org/specialreports188.html explores the issue that political candidates are legally allowed to lie in their campaign ads.
The controversy is that laws against candidates lying (similar to laws against false commercial ads) are often too vague, hard to enforse, and may violate the first ammendment.
I love the second-to-last paragraph in this analysis:
And so it goes. All this should tell voters that -- legally -- it's pretty much up to them to sort out who's lying and who's not in a political campaign. Nobody said Democracy was supposed to be easy.
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Edited by - marfknox on 07/28/2005 18:57:51
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2005 : 14:06:08 [Permalink]
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As long as politicians are allowed to spread falsehoods, there will always be scumbags in power. It's easier to smear others, then pushing your own positive agendas.
Too bad, but I can also see the problems with such laws.
How about limiting the amount of money allowed to make those ads?
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2005 : 16:15:14 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
quote:
As long as politicians are allowed to spread falsehoods, there will always be scumbags in power.
As long as people are not willing to take the time out of their day to research who is lying and who is not, there will always be scumbags in power.
True. I guess I'm bordering on cynical when it comes to American politics. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2005 : 19:15:25 [Permalink]
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quote:
And so it goes. All this should tell voters that -- legally -- it's pretty much up to them to sort out who's lying and who's not in a political campaign. Nobody said Democracy was supposed to be easy.
Welcome to the USA.
And I second what Ricky said. So so many people here are to lazy to get out and form their own opinion, they just toe the party line. People from both left and right do it.
With regard to the article.... I'm not sure that blatant lying is protected under the first ammendment, even if it is political speech.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2005 : 02:46:16 [Permalink]
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| We used to have a check for political half truths, lies and false accusations. It was called the press. |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 08/01/2005 : 14:36:13 [Permalink]
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I wouldn't be opposed to a law against plain false facts. There is, after all, a difference between an opinion that implies a false fact, and an outright falsehood. The article gives an example of a white supremancist saying that blacks want integration in order to get white women. He could state that as his opinion, and then it's not a lie. And though I think it's dead wrong, it's still protected by the first ammendment.
So what about the ads from the Bush campaign that called Kerry a "flipflopper" and then played that damn recording of Kerry saying, "I voted for a bill before I voted against it." Is the Bush campaign to blame for leaving out the whole truth (which was that the bill had actually changed, and that was why Kerry changed his vote) or is it the fault of lazy-ass Americans who believed that commercial? To be fair, if Americans had to research every little thing that politicians said, they wouldn't have time to run their lives.
I do think the solution is a good and free press, and sadly, as Tim said, we used to have that. Maybe we'll have it again after the latest technological revolution being caused largely by the Internet. Or maybe that'll make it worse. *sigh*
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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