FCC should block Anti-Kerry material but Anti-Bush material OK say Democrats.

As many of you know Sinclair Broadcasting Group plains to air the documentary �Stolen Valor: Wounds that Never Heal.� The documentary is of POW�s and Vietnam era veterans opinions of John Kerry�s 1971 testimony before Congress and links between him and actress Jane Fonda.

The documentary and Sinclair have been criticized by democrats who state airing the show is pushing a political agenda. One of the most critical of the show is Senator Dick Durbin stated that advertisers should boycott the broadcaster for pushing a political bias.[1] Durbin and several other democratic leaders have brought the dispute before the FCC to have the airing of the documentary halted.

Vice President of Sinclair, Mark Hyman, has said that the

Durbin is quoted as saying: �The program has not been videotaped, and the exact format of this unscripted event has not been finalized,� pointing out that John Kerry still has an open invitation to the program so that he can answer the Vietnam Veteran�s questions and set the record straight. Kerry has yet to respond to the invitation.

"Sinclair Broadcast Group is notorious for abusing the airwaves with their own political views," Durbin said in an interview Monday. "They have been forcing a ... political commentator down the throats of Springfield viewers for a long time, and now they've really crossed into new territory. They are broadcasting a Bush ad, a documentary, as news," he said, and it amounts to "free advertising just weeks before the election."

Interestingly Durbin does not have a problem with George Soros donating millions of dollars to 527�s to get free advertising for John Kerry. Also when some Republicans called for investigations into CBS and the forged Guard Documents Durbin and the democrats cited freedom of the press.[2]

The bottom line is simple. Not one single CBS employee has been fired or arrested for forging military documents which is a federal offence but now every democrat and his brother is up in arms over a documentary. Makes one wonder what exactly are the democrats worried about if the men John Kerry served with have a few questions for him.

[1] www.sj-r.com...
[2] www.newsmax.com...


[edit on 12-10-2004 by BlackJackal]

Uh, because CBS didn't forge them? They got them from a source, and thought they were credible. People think who that source was? Karl Rove. Why? Wouldn't be the first underhanded thing he did.

And reason they want to stop it is because Moore tried to get F9/11 played, FCC and others said no. So it being on PPV. But SH is going to be played on Network television.

I don't see your point. Are you sayin Sinclair's movie is as same as a 527 ad?

Why are the Dems so concerned about anti-Kerry movie? Perhaps because it contains the truth. I think that the Dems know what will happen when the truth gets out. What I want to know is why General Clark has earned the right to talk about Bush's service, but these POW's don't have the same right.

Originally posted by curme
I don't see your point. Are you sayin Sinclair's movie is as same as a 527 ad?

No Sinclairs movie is a documentary based on facts and has even offered for John Kerry himself to address the issues personally so no its not an Ad. Its the news.

IMHO it just goes to prove that the Democrats can dish it out but they just can't take it!

Jemison

*sarcasm on* I for one am shoked! I would never think that Democrats could be this hypocritical! *sarcasm off*

What did you expect? They would just let it be shown with no fuss?

Come now, being a Republican/Conservative you must be smarter then that.

Another funny thing - not too many posts.....

Where are the hippy liberals to defend themselves?

Originally posted by James the Lesser
Uh, because CBS didn't forge them? They got them from a source, and thought they were credible.

Would you take a look at what you said?

Isn't the War in Iraq the product of some documents, in which most of the Western world made their decisions on to overthrow an evil regime known as Saddam's Iraq from a credible source?

[edit on 12/10/04 by Intelearthling]

Does this really surprise anyone?


Well It doesnt me, Michael Moore is not different.

Wow, it is the same Bushies over and over and over again. "We love god/Bush, he is always right. Dems are evil, even though they ask for equal things. Damn them! How dare they ask for equal rights!"

Originally posted by Jemison
IMHO it just goes to prove that the Democrats can dish it out but they just can't take it!

Jemison

Taking away our basic rights is really part of their hidden agenda! Take away free speech. Take away freedom of religion. Take away our arms.

Originally posted by BlackJackal

Originally posted by curme
I don't see your point. Are you sayin Sinclair's movie is as same as a 527 ad?

No Sinclairs movie is a documentary based on facts and has even offered for John Kerry himself to address the issues personally so no its not an Ad. Its the news.

Opinions are facts now? News no less?

You admitted the truth in your first post.

The documentary is of POW�s and Vietnam era veterans opinions of John Kerry�s 1971 testimony before Congress and links between him and actress Jane Fonda.

It's another group of people against John Kerry. Which is fine. You can actually buy the movie on the web now. It's like $4 I think though nobody seems to care. I'd google it for you but don't want net herpes.

So why is it "newsworthy" to show on broadcast again? Download it. Watch it. Show it at your church. Put it on PPV. Who cares?

The people filing legislation against it are citing the in kind gift of Sinclair of ghastly expensive free prime time broadcast to one group that by any other definition should buy air time just like any other 527. You mention Soros contributing to ads. That's FINE. It's money for ADS, with disclaimers. They aren't disguised as news.

How can Sinclair say the news is too politcal (by pre-empting Nightline) but political smear is news and will likely pre-empt more real network news magazines and entertainemnt programming for this "event" feed to 62 unsuspecting communities, thinking they are watching Asheville Local News, or Raleigh Local News, or Greensboro Local News (my area Sinclair examples), and not what it really is? ...A corporate owners view and illegal donation to an unlicensed 527?

Let 'em either pay for it, or have Sinclair donate 90 minutes for Kerry to use as he wishes. That's not me talking. It's BILL O'REILLY. Sinclair must be wrong, when Conservative Leaders admit it and admonish them.

Ok, been trying to put in words you will understand but anything above grunts and pointing seem to be lost on you. F9/11 is playing on PPV, as a movie. SH is playing as if it was a real documentary, prempting everything else without warning. Unlike a 527 ad, this has no disclaimer that it is complete and total bull like the rest of the 527 ads. It is the opposite of F9/11, the conservative F9/11, but unlike F9/11, it is playing for free on broadcast television, as news, as real, as facts, even though it isn't.

Having seen "Stolen Honor", there is little in the film that is fact based (I would say nothing, but there are a few clips of Kerry speaking, but that's hard to even call fact because it is chopped up and used in a deceptive way). To call it a documentary is a stretch because it is really just the opinion of those that are interviewed. It is mainly the heartwrenching stories of several POWs & their wives who all make the claims that somehow Kerry's anti-war activities prolonged their captivity and was used by their captors against them. What makes the film appear to be created solely for the purpose of smearing Kerry is that of the thousands of anti-war protestors, they single out John Kerry and some of them make claims that his exact words and name was used by their captors.

The claims are quite incredible as I don't know how this would have even been possible. I also don't know how the Vietcong would have seen the television broadcasts of Kerry's testimony--it's not like they had TVs and VCRs out in the jungle in 1971. Even if excerpts of Kerry's testimony was printed in the paper, it is unlikely that the NY Times or Washington Post was readily available in Hanoi during the war, or microfiche machines to retrieve back copies. The claims that they replayed radio broadcasts to torture the prisoners are also a little farfetched--how did the Vietcong get recordings of the broadcasts and play them over and over? Or the ability to transcribe them and type them? It just seemed like it was all fabricated--when I was in college in the early 90's, I had difficulty getting back issues of newspapers and it was impossible to get old recordings without jumping through hoops--how were the Vietcong able to get recordings, pictures, and transcripts of congressional testimony over 30 years ago from a third world country with little or no access to American media?

To single out Kerry as the key to their torture and prolonged capture is what gives this film away as pure propaganda. Perhaps there is a kernel of truth in their claims that the anti-war protests were used against them, but to say specifically that John Kerry was responsible is not believable. I think that the real story here is that these veterans were upset with the fact that Kerry protested the war and they financed a propaganda piece when it became apparent that he was running for president. Two of the men featured in the film where also in the Swift Boat ads and the director of the film has joined forces with the Swift Boat Veterans and the RNC's PR firm to market the film, so the director's bias is clear.

Despite the fact that this is clearly a partisan play on behalf of Sinclair, I am sure that everyone watching this film will see it for what it is. Perhaps those who are already biased against Kerry will enjoy watching him being smeared, but those who have a brain will have little difficulty figuring out that these people have an axe to grind.

The Vietnam issue has already been exposed for what it is and after the world has heard of the Mai Lai massacre and seen films like "Apocalypse Now", "Platoon" and "The Deerhunter", Kerry's claims of atrocities in Vietnam and the fact that he spoke out against them isn't considered to be that radical by mainstream America. Their claims that the atrocities didn't happen seem delusional--there is some questions as to the validity of the Winter Soldiers testimony--the director of Stolen Honor asserts that all of the testimony was discredited, while other sources says that none of it way, but the fact remains that Mai Lai and other offensives like it happened--there was an unchecked lawlessness that the military denied for years. The sad part is that these guys are really hurting--however, being macho military men, instead of getting the therapy that they need to deal with the damage done from being tortured, they have instead chosen to hang on to their pain and villify John Kerry.

The good news is that the FCC Commissioner Copps has already made a statement condemning Sinclair's broadcast and hopefully, the FEC will force to grant equal time to the Dems.

I am also surprised (and not surprised) that Bush hasn't condemned this film. He made negative statements regarding the Swift Boats Vets and this film is rooted in the same sentiment. Comments, Mr. Bush?

Originally posted by RANT
Let 'em either pay for it, or have Sinclair donate 90 minutes for Kerry to use as he wishes. That's not me talking. It's BILL O'REILLY. Sinclair must be wrong, when Conservative Leaders admit it and admonish them.

There was a time when that may have been true about O'Reilly. Not any more. He goes out of his way to be a fawning sycophant, afraid to show any bias. Disgusting, really. I'd really rather see him become a flaming liberal than to be one of those soccer parents that insist both teams get a trophy.

That's what happens when someone tells you that you have a chance at being elected Senator and you actually believe them.

You do have the chance to be elected Senator. Campaign, get your name out, so forth. So this is a bad thing to say.

Anyways. the Swift Boat new ad is the people saying they signed confessions as part of the torture. Only one problem, they signed confessions when they were in AMERICA!!!! So, what torture is it? Sorry, but as said, this movie, not documentary or news, is wrong to play as news or a documentary, even more since these same Bushies wanted Moore dead for trying to have the same thing on cable, but moved to PPV. Hypocrits.

I just think that if they are going to show Republican propoganda, they should also put on F9/11. That would only be fair.

i cant wait to see this program, and hopefully more like this comeout soon.