The Challenge Is Issued

This morning we sent the following email to Eric Ringham, the editorial page editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

[email protected]
Eric: This morning Jim Boyd, on behalf of the Strib’s editorial staff, launched a vicious personal attack on Scott Johnson and me. As private citizens, and given the viciousness and personal nature of Boyd’s attack, I think we are entitled to respond to it. Please confirm that you will give us appropriate space to do so in next Sunday’s paper.
Thank you.
John Hinderaker

We sent the following email to Jim Boyd, who authored the hit piece on us in the Strib:

[email protected]
Jim, this morning you launched a vicious personal attack on Scott Johnson and me, apparently on behalf of the Strib’s editorial board. As usual with those who try to defend the indefensible, your vicious personal tirade was almost completely fact-free, and you didn’t even attempt to deny the central point of our piece, which was that Kerry’s now-retracted Christmas in Cambodia fable was a lie.
As it happens, we have a radio show, and we would like to debate you on this issue so that the public can be advised of all of the relevant facts–not just those that can be squeezed into a 750-word op ed. We hereby invite you to join us for a debate on our show, the Northern Alliance Radio Network, at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, where we will be broadcasting live from the State Fairgrounds. You can present your case before a large live audience, an audience of many thousands on the radio, and an untold world-wide audience that will be listening via our internet stream. If you really think you can sustain the claim that John Kerry undertook secret missions to Cambodia, you will be there. We will debate this issue: “Kerry’s Christmas in Cambodia: An Innocent Mistake, or a Decades-long Pattern of Deception?”
Please confirm that we can look forward to debating you at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, at the State Fairgrounds.
John Hinderaker

The challenge has gone out. Is Jim Boyd a stand-up guy who is willing to debate this important issue fairly, and on the merits? Or is Jim Boyd a gutless, hit-and-run smear artist, who knows he’s wrong on the facts and doesn’t dare meet us face to face? We’ll know soon. And we’ll pass the news on to you.

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