[MineralMan]

"I prefer to wait for the facts."

Me, too. On this Plame thing. On the Kerry thing. On everything.

I love FreeRepublic, but the propensity of some of its members to jump on any rumor, like the Kerry thing, and treat it as though it were gospel, is troubling.

Is Cheney involved with the Plame outing? I don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows. Will we find out? Perhaps, and perhaps not.

Did Kerry have this affair with this unnamed woman? Maybe. I don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows. Will we find out? Perhaps, and perhaps not.

By jumping on rumors and half-told stories, we Freepers leave ourselves open to all sorts of stuff.

For example, someone posted a photo here of Kerry standing next to Jane Fonda. It was bogus, but it is now spreading all over the net. Another photo of Kerry in front of the N. Vietnamese flag was also posted here, and is now spreading like wildfire all over the net. We knew it was PhotoShopped, but in many places, that information is not provided.

It came from Free Republic, though. Dangerous and potentially damaging to the site's reputation.

[MEG33]

I also knew the AWOL claim was bogus,but the mainstream press was all over it..so I don't blame freepers for being gossips or for photoshopped pictures published that people don't check out.

The 2 originals were also posted here.Media outlets correct their mistakes less quickly than FR does.The anti Kerry veterans site tells that the flag/Kerry picture is photoshopped.