Letter Of The Day

Richard Doak, referring to the Swift Boat Veterans ads attacking John Kerry's Vietnam War service, asked if anyone knows any mechanism that might be used to penalize campaign falsehoods other than an occasional libel suit? I do. It's called a free press.

Newspapers such as the Des Moines Register have a responsibility to the American people to investigate and expose the smear campaigns, the half-truths and the distortions that come from both the left and the right that are polarizing American politics.

Doak resents the fact that there is no mechanism for punishing a campaign liar. How about the Register doing its job by printing the truth on its front page and in bold headlines rather than mindlessly repeating baseless allegations as if the allegations were news?

If the American media were doing its job, the smear campaigns of these groups would backfire because the truth would be reported rather than the allegation.

I agree with Doak that something is needed to raise the level of political discourse. How about a media that has the courage to use its power to expose the lies, half-truths and innuendoes before the election is over?

-Rodney Drenkow, Waverly.

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