Mendacious Amendment 2 Supporters Threaten to Sue Because Opponents Tell the Truth
The hubris and arrogance of Missouri's Amendment 2 crowd apparently knows no limits. Having poured around $20 million into their campaign to convince Missouri voters they are outlawing human cloning when they are actually trying to create a constitutional amendment to protect it, they have apparently now threatened to sue opponents for pointing out this truth in a television ad and to prevent television stations from airing the ads. The threat apparently, and it is an empty one, is to sue for slander. But truth is an absolute defense to that tort.
This bullying tactic is known in the trade as a threatened Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP. (Ralph Nader and I exposed this power tactic in our book No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America.) What the Amendment 2 crowd really seeks is a one-sided debate in which only they get to speak. More proof that the cloners are contemptuous of true democracy in general and disrespectful of Missouri voters. The Show Me State should show them the door.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 10:47 PM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
The www.2tricky.org ad CITES THE AMENDMENT ITSELF. Just take a look at the sections of the amendments the ad references. It's saying: "You think it bans cloning? Just take a look at THIS part."
If they're threatening to sue a PSA that calls attention to the amendment's fine print, then the PSA's creators are clearly on to something.
I don't mean this literally, but cockroaches scatter from the light.
I'm sorry always to be the downer person who asks this question but...Is it working? Are the TV stations pulling the ad in fear of the lawsuit threat?
That's really scary. I wonder if any judge would back it up. Actually, I guess such a claim would be tried by a jury, so then the jury would get to decide the meaning of the word 'cloning.' I'm afraid I don't have a lot of faith in the intelligence (or resistance to bamboozlement) of juries.
Yes, I am afraid it is working. This is partly because Amendment 2 has the MSM entirely in its corner. Its proponents can dissemble, and the media will dissemble, too. It can have one man basically pay for the entire campaign, and the very media that decries the power of money in politics applauds. So, that is how it is. Our job is to treat this bias and unequal money as a rocket scientist does gravity. We just have to cut through it to achieve the goal.
At least cockroaches have integrity, something lacking with Amendment 2 supporters.
To be fair, most supporters are being had, or agree with the agenda. It is the leadership of the campaign that is being mendacious.
No, the most important thing is the truth. SCNT is the act of human cloning. Period.
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