First Amendment Hypocrites
Katherine Kersten has taken up the case against the First Amendment hypocrites in the Democratic Party. The truth is that Democrats aren’t the warriors for free speech that they tout themselves to be. Let’s examine the facts.
When Minnesota State DFL chairman Brian Melendez calls Marine Lt. Col. Bob Stephenson, a 23 year veteran “un-American” for his part in an ad that refutes what the Agenda Media has reported on Iraq, then calls for the ads to be pulled off the air, is that what we expect from a free speech warrior? Not in my books, it isn’t.
When Cindy Sheehan set up shop in Crawford, TX, last summer, the ever-hostile Mo Dowd said that Mrs. Sheehan’s loss of a son in Iraq gave her absolute moral authority on the issue of Iraq. That sounds awfully rigid to me, especially since other moms who lost sons or daughters in Iraq or Afghanistan should be accorded the same “absolute moral authority” as ‘Mother’ Sheehan is accorded.
In fact, Miss Dowd’s claims on Sheehan’s behalf sounded more like cover for the ensuing criticism that Sheehan earned for her statements that “The biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush…” or “What they’re saying, too, is like, it’s OK for Israel to have nuclear weapons. But Iran or Syria better not get nuclear weapons…It’s OK for Israel to occupy Palestine,…for the United States to occupy Iraq, but it’s not OK for Syria to be in Lebanon. They’re a bunch of (expletive) hypocrites.”
When a black conservative speaks up, that person is labeled an oreo like Michael Steele. Or Harry Belafonte labels Colin Powell and Condaleezza Rice as tokens.
Where are the warriors for free speech when liberals run Larry Summers out of Harvard just because he said things that they didn’t agree with? Thankfully, Alan Dershowitz and Bill Bennett combined their substantial intellects to decry the First Amendment hypocrisy of the people that Alan Dershowitz labelled as “the most radical, hard-left elements within Harvard’s diverse constituencies.”
Thanks to people like Katherine Kersten writing in a local paper and thanks to people like Bill Bennett and Alan Dershowitz writing to the world, the facade is being exposed.
And not a minute too soon.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing
February 23rd, 2006 at 5:07 pm
The only problem is, too few people see the cracks in the facade. Too few don’t pay attention and compair what they hear now to what they heard before. Attention spans are low and folks quickly forget what happened before.
Maybe that’s why we keep allowing the public school system to dumb down our kids. So we can have mindless drones as the voting population. *Sighs*
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Indeed, let’s examine the facts.
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:32 pm
You post made me gag a little. Not sure why. I think it was quoting that tired old Edmun Burke quote. Blegh. Seriously. You find that in a handout about coffee house liberalism? Cindy Sheehan is the definition of un-American, but she’s not so much un-American as she is an tool of the left who is so stupid she doesn’t understand she’s being used. I agree her quotes shouldn’t be held as a viewpoint of the mainstream left, somebody should take the mic from her and tell her to go home, but that’s my opinion. By law she’s allowed to talk to whoever chooses to listen, but Cindy Sheehan is pointless, and by coincidence, not the point. Let’s see, looking through your comment I see…hmmm..yes..Bla bla looming distaster, thousands of lives (1417 doesn’t count as ‘thousands’ sorry!), bla bla liberal talking points laundry list bla bla. The president isn’t in charge of batting away hurricanes with his fists, so pleeeeease stop citing natural disasters as somehow an offense that sits squarly on the administration. That’s getting so tired. Go back to DailyKOS and come back when you have a point.
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:54 pm
And thanks for screwing up the coding. Dork.
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Here’s the link to the Strib article that reported Melendez making the “un-American” statement.
Here’s the actual quote:
DFL Party Chairman Brian Melendez called a news conference to call the ad “un-American, untruthful and a lie.” “Minnesota has a chance to take a stand against this misleading and untruthful propaganda,” he said. Referring to controversial ads that ran during the last presidential race, he said, “Minnesota TV stations should pull this ad and send a message that we will not tolerate this kind of ’swift-boating’ anymore.”
Pulling ads that Democrats don’t agree with isn’t my idea of free speech.
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:35 pm
You mean, all I had to do was screw up the code? If I’d only known.
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:36 pm