RE: Truth in Advertising

[Denise Hood <hoodsx3@aol.com>]

Michael:

You state "I have not seen much discussion regarding standards for political advertising, specifically trying to control the use of inflammatory, slanderous, and libelous statements in political advertising. Free speech, as we all know, does not include speech that is untrue or harmful. Particularly shameful in this area have been the attempts by the NAACP to use racism and fear in order to scare their contituency. This year, they ran ads implying that G.W. Bush approved of the lynching of James Byrd in Texas.

I agree with you, this political ad was not only shameful and shocking, it was very distasteful. I think we would be well served to restrict this sort of political message in future campaigns. (Oops! There goes our "Freedom of Speech"!)

If I recall correctly, this type of vicious character-assassinating type of campaign ad originated with George Herbert Walker Bush's 1992 campaign against his opponent, Michael Dukakis. I still remember the "Willie Horton" and "revolving Prison Door in Massachusetts" images evoked by those vicious, negative ads, and how devastating they were to Dukakis' campaign.

The difference being that Dukakis LOST that election to Bush, and this time around, in SPITE of the NAACP ads, Bush won. (?)