Seriously -- there are laws that prevent companies from making outrageous claims about their products or unfair comparison to other products, right? Well, why don't these apply to political ads? I assume the constitutionally protected right to political speech is the reason, but wouldn't it be great if there were real penalties for statements that were demonstrated to be lies by these various nonpartisan fact checking organizations? So every time Palin and McCain said "bridge to nowhere -- thanks but no thanks" their campaign owed $50,000 in fines, let's say?

Lizzie:

Seriously -- there are laws that prevent companies from making outrageous claims about their products or unfair comparison to other products, right? Well, why don't these apply to political ads? I assume the constitutionally protected right to political speech is the reason, but wouldn't it be great if there were real penalties for statements that were demonstrated to be lies by these various nonpartisan fact checking organizations? So every time Palin and McCain said "bridge to nowhere -- thanks but no thanks" their campaign owed $50,000 in fines, let's say?

You are inaccurate in your characterization of Palin lying about the "bridge to Nowhere!"