Text taken from the October 21, 2006 newsletter of the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance (not yet available online):
Bill Moyers
In the October 9 issue of this newsletter I reported my recollections of a conversation with Bill Moyers prior to a taping of an interview for his PBS special "Is God Green?" Mr. Moyers through his attorney challenged that report as being defamatory of Mr. Moyers. My response, through counsel, follows:
Your letter of October 18, 2006, to Interfaith Stewardship Alliance and your letter of October 19, 2006, to Dr. E. Calvin Beisner have been sent to me by my clients for reply.
I have carefully examined the language in the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance Newsletter dated October 9, 2006, that you contend in your October 18 letter is defamatory of your client, Bill Moyers. My examination of that language in the light of applicable United States Supreme Court opinions and those from other jurisdictions as well as major treatises on defamation forces me to the opinion that the language is not legally capable of a defamatory meaning. I would be pleased to review any authority you have that you believe supports your position.
Dr. Beisner is troubled by the fracturing of the relationship with your client and desires to attempt to restore that relationship outside of the civil courts as Christians are admonished to do in First Corinthians chapter six. He was preparing to do this before he received your first letter, which necessitated his seeking legal counsel. He sincerely believes that he accurately summarized in the newsletter his recollection of a private conversation with your client that was not recorded prior to the interview on camera. He also believes his recollection may have been influenced by a conversation he and your client had on the way to the airport following the interview. Finally, he stands by the opinions expressed that you challenge in your letter.
Accordingly, your demands in your letters are rejected. Should you be able to call to my attention applicable authority in support of your position which is persuasive, then your demands will be reconsidered.
While I understood from the conversation that he was a Democrat, I accept his representation that he is an independent.
In Christ,
Calvin
NOTE: Equal space will be offered for any response that Bill Moyers or his attorney care to provide to me.
I have the solution: a live televised debate between Jimmy and Bill Moyers regarding the role of faith in civic life.
A fair fight? Jimmy’d whup him.
Moyers has a history of acting outraged when caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. Laurence Silberman was tasked with cleaning up J. Edgar Hoovers secret files. Here’s his encounter with Moyers:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006987
“Only a few weeks before the 1964 election, a powerful presidential assistant, Walter Jenkins, was arrested in a men’s room in Washington. Evidently, the president was concerned that Barry Goldwater would use that against him in the election. Another assistant, Bill Moyers, was tasked to direct Hoover to do an investigation of Goldwater’s staff to find similar evidence of homosexual activity. Mr. Moyers’ memo to the FBI was in one of the files.
When the press reported this, I received a call in my office from Mr. Moyers. Several of my assistants were with me. He was outraged; he claimed that this was another example of the Bureau salting its files with phony CIA memos. I was taken aback. I offered to conduct an investigation, which if his contention was correct, would lead me to publicly exonerate him. There was a pause on the line and then he said, “I was very young. How will I explain this to my children?” And then he rang off.”
Methinks the leftist doth protest too much…
Hey, did you see the letter from the “independent” Bill Moyers criticizing the major right-wing pundits? I bet he writes equally scathing criticisms of left-wing pundits all the time.
Not!