FreeMarkSteyn.com
"Would people really refrain from criticizing Obama just because they fear being, er, sent to prison for it?"
That's what they're asking at HotAir.com, the conservative news site.
They're commenting on Saturday's provocative statement by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, in response to "plans by U.S. Senator Barack Obama to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics."
According to a report on KMOV St Louis (video here) Obama's campaign is forming self-described "truth squads" to shut down criticism of the Democratic Presidential candidate.
Worse, the "truth squads" are allegedly being helmed by two Obama supporters who happen to be on the City payroll: St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce.
Governor Matt Blunt's statement condemning these "truth squads" deserves to be reprinted here, in full:
“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.
“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.
“This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.
“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society.”
This is just the latest in the Obama campaign's "brown shirt" tactics to stifle any criticism of the Democratic candidate.
To cite just one example: take the use of "flash mobs" to intimidate a radio talk show host and his guests: the author of a book critical of Obama's far left policies, and his ties to communists and other dubious individuals; and a journalist investigating Obama's ties to the unrepentant 1970s terrorist Bill Ayers.
To my surprise, the finest critique of this shameful episode came, not from a partisan conservative blog, but from Aaron Barnhart, the media critic behind the industry website TVBarn.com.
Please read the whole thing for a truly fair and even-tempered expose of the harrassment of WGN Radio's Milt Rosenberg, author David Freddoso and journalist Stanely Kurtz.
Here's an excerpt from Barnhart's fine critique:
"Obama didn't go after Rush Limbaugh or Jerry Agar or Glenn Beck or Mark Levin or any number of other right-wing radio hosts (...). No, he went after WGN Radio's Milt Rosenberg -- a genial University of Chicago professor who for 35 years has hosted possibly the most civilized two hours of commercial radio anywhere in America, Extension 720.
"Few people have exposed more authors to more readers in that time than Milt Rosenberg has. Barack Obama should know. He was a guest on Extension 720 in 1995 ... when he had a book to promote. (...)
"Obama should be delighted that Kurtz was featured on Extension 720, where cross-examination comes not just from the host but the callers. Instead, he hit the flagship radio station of the teetering Tribune empire with a barrage of hostility that its host called unprecedented. About 45 minutes into the program, Rosenberg finally learned the source of the deluge [of harrassing phone calls] was the campaign itself. And then, sounding a little flustered, he told his listeners what happened...
"But this crusade against Rosenberg was complete overkill. Campaigning is not governance, and I must admit, I'm now a lot more worried than I was a month ago about how Obama will deal with criticism from the right should he be elected, because they ain't going away.
"Obama says he will change Washington. That he will govern in a bipartisan way and get Congress unstuck. I want to believe him. But I think that this current wave of criticism is practice for the years ahead, and I am not encouraged by the Obama campaign's instinct to dump a pile of bricks on anyone who won't engage them on their terms."
I contacted Barnhart to congratulate him for writing such a well thought out piece. He admitted to me that his personal "politics are complicated" and added that his brother, an Obama supporter, was no longer speaking to him after that article ran.
Sounds pretty typical, huh?
Comments
I am appalled that the Barrack Hussein Obama campaign feel they need to sanction "lies" about him when he has been spewing lies all over the USA about Sen. McCain. His ads are mostly about distortions of what was said or completely false.
As far as middle class tax increase being untrue please refer to Motion # 4313 vote taken on 3/13/08, on Amendment 4160 to S.Con.Res 70 vote on 3/13/08, Motion#4242 on 3/13/08.
Up Canada way we seem to be late to this realization that the Obamabots are top flight storm trooper material. Larry Sinclair found out early in the game when they framed him up and got the Bindens to go in on it.
http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/
I find it quite ironic in 2008 Russia has become a democratic society while each day America becomes more and more socialist.We face the same enemies more or less who brought on the bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917.These marxists have been infiltrating academia,financial institutions,media and hollywood as well as the government since after WWII.Wasn't it Kruschev who said that the U.S. would fall from within.Well people with the recent economic collapse as well as 50 years of socialist programs taking away our right to choose schools for our children,affirmitive action programs that discriminate against more qualified workers,prayer taken out of our classrooms etc., and now this.We can't criticize this unqualified marxist-facist poster boy, stand up now people enough is enough, what's next thought crimes.Send this phony fraud(pun intended) back to his job at Acorn they are good couple.
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