Fight Against the Republican Lies!!!

Moveon's suggested Letters to the Editor as a response to Bush lies
Posted by papau on Fri Mar-12-04 09:11 PM @ DU

Letters to the editor re Bush lies in the antiKerry negative ads- from Moveon


MoveOn suggests Letters to the Editor as a response to lies in Bush negative ads

If anyone feels in the move to write a letter to the editor, Moveon has emailed out a set of truth that you might want to use in your letter.

Attack Ad: "100 DAYS"

Lie #1: John Kerry will raise taxes by $900 billion in his first 100 days.

The Truth: John Kerry has promised to lower taxes on working families, not raise them. He will repeal the Bush tax cut only for families earning $200,000 or more, simply returning those families' taxes to pre-Bush rates. He will close corporate tax loop holes. And he will provide additional tax cuts to working families to help with health care costs which have increased dramatically under Bush. Click here for more. http://blog.johnkerry.com/dbunker/archives/001352.html

Lie #2: John Kerry wants to weaken the Patriot Act used to arrest terrorists and protect America.

The Truth: John Kerry wants to strengthen the parts of the Patriot Act that actually fight terrorism, such as intelligence information sharing. However, he believes there may be some parts of the Act that take away our freedom without providing any protection against terrorism, and that those parts should be reviewed. We need a president who knows that standing up for freedom means standing against terrorism. Click here for more. http://blog.johnkerry.com/dbunker/archives/001353.html

Attack Ad: "FORWARD"

Lie: "We can continue to go forward to work to create new jobs...and decrease the cost of health care."

The Truth: America has lost 2.4 million jobs since the Bush recession began in March 2001. Bush has tried the same remedy for three years: massive tax cuts for the rich, and for three years that remedy has failed. Meanwhile, health care costs have increased by an average of $793 since Bush took office -- a stunning 49 percent increase -- according to a survey of Employer Health Benefits by the Kaiser Family Foundation. <www.kff.org >

And some tips on writing an effective letter:

Brevity is the soul of wit.

The key to publication is to respond to something specific you've seen in the newspaper -- such as a story Bush's new attack ads.
Be sure to include your name and address, and especially your phone number when submitting your letter. Editors need to call you to verify authorship before they can print your letter. They don't print your phone number.

Your newspaper's letters page should give you an email address or fax number to use, or you can try this website: http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media /

In addition to debunking the lies about, here are two talking points you can work into your letter:

1. Characterizing an opponent's record and ideas in the worst light possible is par for the course in politics, but blatant lies are not to be tolerated.

2. The press has a responsibility to hold politicians accountable when they campaign on baseless lies. If the press fails to do that, then they are just stenographers in the game of he-said-she-said. In that environment, politics is a fast race to the bottom.