August 26, 2004

GEORGE BUSH allies with John McCain against free speech. It seems that in the future only "official" speech will be allowed, that is, speech from Democrats, Republicans -- the New York Times.

Let's see. InstaPundit and Captains Quarters take donations and use their "independent expenditures" to make a case for Pres. Bush and against John Kerry. Are Bush and McCain going to do their best to shut down these voices through legislation and court action, as they intend with the Swift Vets? They will if there is any consistency or principle behind what they are doing.

UPDATE: A reader writes:

"It is not correct to imply that bush and mccain are against free speech - they are against free unregulated speech .. ."
Well, in a way he's nailed it. They certainly are against free speech for you and me -- but they aren't against it for the incumbent politician, the monopoly newspaper, and the giant broadcaster behind the tree.

Rich Lowry writes this: "He has gone from signing campaign-finance reform and hoping (and expecting) it would be struck down as unconstituional, to affirmatively seeking yet more restrictions on the First Amendment. Such is the fruit of betaying your principles. What a mess."

And this from Jonah Goldberg: "What is so thoroughly absurd and tragic is how we've come to accept as the "enlightened" position in America that political speech needs to be regulated as much as the instructions on prescription drugs." Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack