Letter to Wolf Blitzer at CNN

Wolf is following the liberal media line of trashing the SwiftBoat messengers rather than actually investigating the story, so I wrote him a letter at wolf@cnn.com:

Dear Mr. Blitzer,

Your liberal bias is showing Wolf.

Whatever credibility you had is 'swiftly' evaporating with your and your network's handling of the SwiftBoat controversy. Instead of actually looking into the sworn affidavits of the overwhelming majority of Senator Kerry's Vietnam compatriots, instead of finding out exactly WHO wrote Kerry's citations, instead of investigating the clear contradictions in Kerry's Vietnam stories over the years, you and CNN choose to shoot the messengers and take at face value official Navy documents that have been convincingly discredited. You even choose to ignore Kerry's own historical comments that contradict himself. You smear, discredit, and otherwise marginalize the Swift Boat heroes instead of doing your job - finding and reporting the news, AS IS. While CNN's reputation is, in my opinion due to their Iraq reporting and other obviously liberal 'news-managing', well beyond salvage anyway, I think yours can still be saved.

Kerry has based his campaign for President on his 'heroism' in the Vietnam war in a clear and cynical attempt to leave his anti-war betrayals behind, and trade on his questionable 'valor'. If, as Kerry clearly stated at the DNC, we are to judge his fitness for office based up on his Vietnam experience, then we NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT IT, and not just what Kerry tells you. He has already waffled on three long standing claims; Christmas in Cambodia, his 1st Purple Heart, and his accusations of 'atrocities'. Average citizens such as myself are very curious about what else he has lied about, a seasoned reporter such as yourself should be ferreting out his complete records and researching the SwiftBoat claims exhaustively and fairly. While you're at it, how about getting Theresa Heinz Kerry's financial statements and highlighting her affiliations with multiple 527 groups? How much of MoveOn's and others millions of dollars in Bush slanders came from Theresa? In this way your biased assertions about Bush's connections to the SwiftBoaters might have more balance, and therefore more impact.

If you care to have any reputation for journalistic integrity at all I suggest you resign at CNN and join a growing network like Fox - CNN is a lost cause. If you choose to stay at CNN, I recommend that you not toe the corporate 'liberal line'. It's clearly not in your best interest as a reporter - will you sacrifice your entire career to stay in Ted Turner's good graces? If he fires you, I'm sure Fox would love to have you. That'd a make a good story, and you'd be a hero yourself to most Americans.

You report all sides, I'll decide if you don't mind.

Sincerely,

Doug
Harpers Ferry, WV