Obama Truth Squad Thuggery

As mentioned in my update on Obama: Thuggery You Can Believe In, the News 4 television station is trying to back off the report on prosecutor intimidation in the Missouri Obama "truth squads." They are now claiming that the story got "twisted."

Newsbusters.org posted this in response:

News 4 reporter Mills has more recently tried to back away from his original report:

“If they think a group has put out a misleading ad, they’re basically going to call a press conference and say the ad is misleading," reporter John Mills told the News-Leader on Sunday. "I’m sure the Republicans would do the same thing."

In his TV report, Mills said the prosecutors "also say that they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate violate Missouri ethics laws."

..... In Mills' Sept. 23 report, there is no mention by St. Louis County Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Attorney Jennifer Joyce that they would invoke their prosecutorial powers to stop any perceived mistruths from being spread about the Democratic presidential candidate.

Horse manure.

These people are prosecutors.

How do prosecutors "respond" to actions they feel violate the law? They prosecute. Most reasonable viewers would have concluded that they were planning to act against "offenders" in their official capacities.

This backoff by Mills is baloney. The original plan, from the Obama campaign, comes from people who simply didn't realize how ugly what they were saying, planning, and probably still doing, sounds -- and is.

Like me, they aren't buying the "official" clarification. The Obama campaign has a track record of intimidation and threats against opponents. That is Chicago-style thuggery, plain and simple. Just ask the NRA, Stanley Kurtz and David Freddoso.

Additionally, The American Thinker posted this:

St. Louis prosecutor Jennifer Joyce, member of the Obama "Truth Squad" in Missouri made up of members of law enforcement pleads innocent to charges of intimidation of political foes.

The Political Fix has her statement:

As a citizen, I believe that elections should be about issues. I also have enormous respect for our First Amendment and freedom of speech. My sole purpose in participating in this initiative is about getting truthful information to the voters. This has never been or never will be about prosecuting people.

Clearly there are those who are attempting to twist the purpose of this initiative for their own benefit. This attack is a great example of how the truth is distorted in campaigns and what we're trying to stand up against.

Nice strawman, Jennifer. No one on this side is talking about prosecution either - only the threat of prosecution which everyone knows is a time honored tactic of prosecutors who desire a certain result in court but can't prove wrongdoing.

In this case, there's a little old thing called the First Amendment that stands in the way. But that wouldn't stop an aggressive prosecutor from sending letters hinting that opponents could be arrested if their version of the "truth" were in conflict with the official Obama line.

And where's MSM on this story? There's nothing but dead silence from them. Of course, if it were the McCain campaign doing this, the story would be on the front page of every newspaper and it would be the lead story on the television news.