A Right to Speak

On Fox's "Special Report with Brit Hume," a panel of three guests was quizzed by the host about whether the head of the Swiftboat anti-Kerry group had the right to write a book criticizing the potential candidate. Of course he does! I have the distinct right to sit down and write a book detailing what really happened to John Kerry during Vietnam, and I can claim all my lies are true. (I just can't cross the libel line, but that's a given.) Hell, I can claim he died over there, that we've got a Mecha-Kerry campaigning for the White House. It doesn't mean it's true. It doesn't mean I'm right. It doesn't mean you should believe me. But you also don't have the authority to shut me up. I have, as part of that whole Bill of Rights business, the ability to make an utter jackass out of myself. The framers never said free speech had to be rational. Quit complaining and learn to evaluate statements yourselves. It isn't hard.