These kinds of ads are the reason why I canceled my subscription to the Denver Post last year. The Post seems willing to take advertising from any crackpot group as long as said group is willing to pony up the cash for said ad.
To be fair I must point out that the Post also accepts ads from other political groups such as Americans for Responsible Solutions. They ran a banner ad near the top of today's paper which, when you clicked on it, took you to a page that allowed you to contact your state senator to voice your support of background checks for gun buyers.
It is not a coincidence that both these ads appeared on the same day. Does the Post believe that by running both ads they are presenting a fair and balanced view? Yeah, right, then why do you have to click on the AFRS ad while the the CCPOC ad is in your face without any warning? At first I did not even notice the AFRS ad but I sure as hell cannot say the same thing about the CCPOC ad.
I do, of course, believe in freedom of speech. The problem is that many people today think freedom of speech means you can say anything you damn well want to but that is not true. The Supreme Court has ruled that the first amendment does not allow you to make any statements that are meant to provoke violence or incite illegal action while slander and libel laws protect the reputation of people or organizations from deliberately misleading statements or outright lies. Which ad above is teetering on the edge of libel?
The Denver Post was once a respectable conservative newspaper. It is sad to see it turning into a political rag that panders to the ultra-conservative far-right.
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