Does the 1st amendment allow Politcians to lie with impunity???

Explanation: Recently I had the fortune to read 2 very interesting threads on ATS which go directly to show that its one rule for TPTB and another rule for the rest of us and I link them here for your researching pleasure...

Say goodbye 1st Amendment: It's illegal to pray on the grounds of the Supreme Court (by FortAnthem) [ATS]

Judge: Law penalizing fake heroes unconstitutional (by airspoon) [ATS]

Now both these threads deal DIRECTLY with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution [wiki] and more specifically deal with Free Speech in the United States. [wiki]

Now what concerns me is...

Free Speech: Core Political Speech [wiki]

From Source linked directly above...

Core Political Speech
This is the most highly guarded form of speech because of its purely expressive nature and importance to a functional republic. Most simply, core political speech is interactive communications about political ideas or issues that are not motivated by profit. Restrictions placed upon core political speech must weather strict scrutiny analysis or they will be struck down.

So can US politicians legally lie, as protected by the US Constitution, to the US public about anything as long as they themselves are not financially motivated or rewarded???

Persoanl Disclosure: How could Bill Clinton be impeached for lying/perjury if his little white lie was Constitionally protected under HIS First Amendment unalienable Rights???

reply to post by OmegaLogos


Its been a while hasn't it OL . To answer your question, there is the truth and there is a half truth. Bill was able to tell the truth but only after he got caught in a affair. The first amendment works on higher levels but not so much for the general public.

Edit:$&F

[edit on 18-7-2010 by Stop-loss!]

Explanation: Bumped to help generate ad revenue!

Personal Disclosure: Enjoy!