First we have Michael Moore, independent of the Democratic party, doing Fahrenheit 9/11 in a bid to oust Bush. It's an editorial in the form of a movie, and as such is inherently biased, but not illegitimate. You can debate the points of the movie forever, but it was within his rights to make it. Next, we have a commercial aired by "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" in a bid to defeat Kerry, again independent of the Republican party. It's a commercial, and inherently biased, but again not illegitimate and within their rights to make it.



Then the lawyers step in, according to Instapundit.



I think you can't implicitly condone Moore's opinion piece and simultaneously try to stifle the oppositions'. Yes, each has shaded the truth to one extent or another, depending on your point of view. But both sides of the political spectrum are feeding us phenomenal amounts of crap these days. Either resolve to play nicely together, or to give as good as you get. You can't have it both ways.



UPDATE:



That being said, I haven't seen the ad. I just read something here about a potentially false affidavit that Kerry had shot someone in the back. While I know each side has shaded things and included opinion/conspiracy theory/innuendo as "fact," if this ad turns out to have included flat-out lies, particularly about such a hot subject as that one, it will come back to bite the sponsors (and anyone implicitly condoning them).



UPDATE UPDATE



Don posts this news flash at Tusk and Talon.