Blogger Joshua Micah Marshall has reported on his website, Talking Points Memo, that CNN has refused to run a TV advertisement by the gay Republican group Log Cabin Republicans. The ad, as Marshall described it, advocates “an inclusive, rather than an intolerant Republican party” and concludes with the words "HOPE NOT FEAR." According to Marshall, other channels, including FOX News Channel, have agreed to run the ad -- but CNN has rejected it as “too controversial.”

Media Matters for America viewed the ad, and we're guessing the part CNN deemed too controversial is not the clip from a stirring speech by the Great Communicator before a Republican Convention past. Rather, it's likely a photo of gay-basher Fred Phelps, carrying his trademark placards emblazoned with the words "GOD HATES FAGS."

So, to sum up: CNN says Log Cabin Republicans cannot run an ad that accurately depicts signs carried by a publicity-savvy hate-monger. But the network has agreed to run (and give near-constant free airtime to) a series of ads by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that smear Senator John Kerry.

One of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's ads falsely asserts that Kerry accused American soldiers in Vietnam of having “raped ... randomly shot at civilians ... cut off limbs” -- surely far more graphic and disturbing images than a sign with an all-too-common anti-gay slur. And talk about controversial: As MMFA and numerous others have pointed out, the group's co-founder and principal spokesman, John E. O'Neill has been exposed as a liar and a partisan, and the ads themselves are filled with lies and distortions. And then there are the numerous connections between the group and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign.

Marshall introduced the item as "AN AMAZING UPDATE on the rapid decline of CNN."