Breaking News: First Amendment in Jeopardy…if Obama Elected?

This entry was posted by harry s truman on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 11:14 am.

First, Republicans called a potential Obama Chief of Staff “among the most vitriolic and partisan people in American politics,” evidently right behind [every member of the Bush Administration, beginning with Bush]. Now, they’re accusing Obama of not supporting the freedom of speech, evidently right behind [every member of the Bush Administration, beginning with Bush].

I’m not even sure what to say about this new item of interest, except that it’s even more bizarre: today, Sarah Palin told a D.C. radio station that her First Amendment rights may be jeopardized by “attacks” from reporters on her criticism of Obama.

If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations then I don’t know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media.

Over at Salon, Glenn Greenwald talks about what this means (or doesn’t):

This is actually so dumb that it hurts…If anything, Palin has this exactly backwards, since one thing that the First Amendment does actually guarantee is a free press. Thus, when the press criticizes a political candidate and a Governor such as Palin, that is a classic example of First Amendment rights being exercised, not abridged…The Constitution also guarantees freedom of association. Thus, by Palin’s “reasoning,” when newspapers—or Palin herself—criticize Obama for his associations, they’re threatening his constitutional rights.

From G.H.W. Bush, to Quayle, to Gore, to Cheney, Vice Presidents have often seemed clownish (each except Cheney being a relatively funny clown), but McCain seems to have picked a real winner here. Palin has somehow bridged the gap between Quayle and Cheney: funny-stupid and funny-scary. No wonder the GOP base is energized!

I don’t suppose the radio show host asked how the media’s actions even remotely relate to what Obama would do as President.