As a general rule, only cranks and ignoramuses respond to disagreements by whining that “the media” or other citizens are violating the crank’s right to free speech under the First Amendment. There are of course exceptions to every rule, but this isn’t one of them:
In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by “attacks” from reporters who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Barack Obama.
Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama’s associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate’s free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.
“If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations,” Palin told host Chris Plante, “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.”
First, criticism of criticism isn’t censorship. It’s debate, argument, and is protected by…the First Amendment. Proposing that the government act to stymie criticism of Palin — as she seems to suggest — is a violation of the First Amendment.
Second, and this (again) is just Civics 101, the media isn’t the government. It takes government action for First Amendment rights to be violated. For Palin’s right to speak freely to have been unconstitutionally chilled, the government, not the “mainstream media” must’ve had a hand in the chilling.
If I show up at my local ABC affiliate and demand to be put on the air to discuss whatever’s on my mind, my constitutional rights haven’t been violated when they say no. One needn’t be a lawyer to know that. It’s common sense.
What a colossally unqualified and ignorant woman.
