Oh no, we don't want to censor the movie. We just want to stop you from telling people where they can see the movie.

A group calling itself "Citizens United" has asked the Federal Election Commission to ban commercials for "Fahrenheit 9/11" as political advertising which are subject to restrictions as commercials paid by unregulated money from corporations or unions. "Citizens United stands second-to-none in fighting for free speech," said David Bossie, president of the group, in the press release announcing their call for action to censor advertising for the movie.



Citizen United is an interesting group. They're the ones who invented Willie Horton a few years ago. They ran an anti-Clinton commercial during his interview on CBS' "60-minutes." (Nevermind that Clinton is not running for President, they want you to know that it's all his fault: "So who is responsible for leaving us vulnerable to terrorists? You don't need Clinton's book to know," reads the transcript of the ad.) They are the same folks who scorned the firefighters union when they endorsed John Kerry and are obsessed with the fantasy that Hillary Clinton is planning to storm the Deomcratic convention and may run for President. Oh, and they're also the group that gave us the videotape the "Clinton Chronicles." You might have missed that one but it was a cult hit with right-wing paranoids who believe that the Clintons murdered Vince Foster.



David Bossie is quite a character too. Controversy follows him everywhere. In 1992, Bossie used edited tapes of conversations allegedly between Bill Clinton and Gennifer Flowers as part of an advertising and "800" number scheme to smear Clinton. He used material made to look as if it were an "official" mailing from Bush campaign (the Bush people alerted the FEC to the mailings in an effort to stop them). At one time he got into a fistfight in Arkansas with a private detective who claimed Bossie had welshed on a payment for anti-Clinton material. And he faxed to some 30 news organizations an anonymous letter claiming Clinton had an affair with a former law student who committed suicide when she discovered she was pregnant.



New York Times: Movie Ads or Political Ads? Complaint Says Line Is Too Fine

American Politics Journal: David Bossie, Vast Right-Wing Conspirator of the Week