Spam as opinion

This morning the Boulder Daily Camera ran a piece of political spam email as a letter to the editor. The letter was "written" by Cody Elmore of Boulder, and it makes two general claims (that Bush is lowering the average American's tax burden; that John Kerry will raise that burden and yet is avoiding paying his own) as well as several specific claims (John Kerry owns four mansions; Kerry paid less than Bush in taxes even though they should have paid the same; and so on). All of these claims are either false or misleading.

The website Apeiron has a detailed breakdown of the problems with this email, including (heavens above!) actual sources and references to back up their claims. Here are some of the most salient:

Spam: "Kerry owns 4 mansions ... (His ski resort home in Idaho is an old barn brought over from Europe in pieces. ...)"
Truth: John Kerry and Teresa Heinz own one home together, their Boston townhouse. The other homes are ones that Heinz owned before she married Kerry; the "ski resort" in question was actually brought over from Europe in pieces by her late husband, Republican Senator John Heinz.
Sources:
  FactCheck.org
  Snopes Urban Legends
  Urban Legends and Folklore

Spam: "Both George Bush and John Kerry are wealthy men. ... Bush paid $250,000 in taxes this year; Kerry paid $90,000. Does that sound right? The man who wants to raise your taxes obviously has figured out a way to avoid paying his own."
Truth: The only truths here are that both men are wealthy and that Kerry paid approximately $90,000. George Bush paid $227,490 in taxes in 2003 which would more truthfully be rounded to $225,000 than to $250,000. Furthermore, the implication that Kerry "avoided" paying taxes is simple slander. Kerry's income was less than Bush's ($395,338 total v. $822,126 total), and he therefore paid less in taxes. Not exactly a case for tax fraud.
Sources:
  Tax History Project
  Citizens for Tax Justice - Bush & Cheney Tax Returns
  U.S. Newswire - Kerry Releases 2003 Income Tax Returns
  Washington Post - President Benefits From His Tax Cut

As I mentioned, Mike Buck of Apeiron has done a fabulous job of refuting pretty much every claim the email makes, so I won't go into more detail here; just read his rebuttal.

The fact that there are political spam emails being sent around the Internet with lies, unfair innuendos and faulty logic is hardly newsworthy. That the Boulder Daily Camera would print this spam as if it were a "letter to the editor," however, deserves attention. I will be calling the Camera on Monday, when their editorial staff gets back from the weekend, to ask for a retraction or an apology.

I don't expect that they fact-check every letter (though it wouldn't hurt them to ask for sources), but neither do I expect that the letters I'm reading are actually spam. And how hard could it be to look into claims like this before going to press? All I needed to learn that this was a bunch of nonsense was an Internet connection, Google, and about 15 minutes. In fact, doing a search for the exact phrase "Bush paid $250000 in taxes this year Kerry paid $90000" yields 75 different posts of the exact text of the letter they were sent.

I'm disappointed, and I'm going to let them know it.

[cross-posted at DugBlog]

Right Issue, Wrong Target

Thanks to the Boulder Daily Camera for coming up with that nice title for my letter to the editor that was published today (scroll to the bottom). The opinion piece I'm referring to in my letter can be found here. [cross-posted on DugBlog]