Posted by
Peppermint2 on Saturday, November 01, 2008 5:24:23 AM
This article was written by Dogged, Guest Writer
Thanks Dogged
A tough question was asked of the Obama camp. Barbara West of WFTV 9 in Orlando Florida asked Joe Biden a question he didn’t like. Joe Biden answered with a question of his own: “Are you joking, is this a joke? Who is writing your questions?”
The Obama camp likes having tough questions aimed at John McCain. But God help the media maverick (or private citizen) that believes they have the right to present tough questions to the Obama camp.
A disturbing trend has emerged on how the Obama camp responds to those. Instead of answers to clarify, there are…consequences.
The Obama camp’s response to WFTV regarding Barbara West’s question:
WFTV won’t get any further interviews with them and, quite likely, will receive no further Obama information. The Obama camp also canceled WFTV’s scheduled interview with Jill Biden.
David Freddoso, the author of “The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate”, was scheduled to appear on a radio show. The Obama camp sent out an email requesting people start a nationwide email and phone campaign flooding the station with demands that he not be allowed on the air.
American Issues Project of Houston ran an ad about Obama’s connection with Bill Ayers. Obama’s response was to write a letter to the Justice Department asking that the American Issues Project, and their contributors, be investigated. As POTUS, Obama would not have to make such a request. He could simply order it to be done.
An average citizen, now known as Joe the Plumber, did what the American public has always assumed was their right. He met a candidate and asked a question. He just wanted to know how one of Obama’s plans would impact him if he bought a business. Unfortunately for Joe, he caught the Senator off guard (or just off teleprompter). The unscripted answer wasn’t perceived as favorable for Obama. Now Joe is feeling the impact of daring to ask. His entire life has been gone over with a fine tooth comb and, it appears, the combing was done through government computer systems.
On Friday four broadcast television stations in the key battleground states contacted The National Republican Trust Pac. They said the Obama camp is denying a key allegation in one of their hard-hitting TV ads.
The Obama camp demanded that the stations stop running the TV ad.
This is a strange time in our country’s history. As Americans, we have always questioned anything we deemed necessary about our elected officials either pre or post election. We assume we have the right to do so.
We do. An inalienable right. A constitutional right. Freedom of Speech.
However, Senator Obama is showing he has his own interpretation of Freedom of Speech.
Liberal Free Speech: Good.
Favorable Media Speech: Good.
Anything else: Be prepared for consequences.
This is a very disturbing trait in a Presidential candidate. It would be a terrifying one in someone with the full power of the POTUS.
If hard or unpleasant questions generate retaliation from Senator Obama now, what will happen if someone tries to ask them of President Obama later?
What happens then to the Freedom of Speech of both the American media and the American citizen? What consequences will there be for those who dare to ask? What consequences will there be for all of us if they don’t dare to ask?
Imagine living in a country where the only news that is broadcast is favorable to it’s’ leaders. Where the only questions allowed are the ones that show them in a positive light. Where anything you say or write must be pre-censored to avoid consequences. Today, countries like that exist. We are blessed not to be one of them. It’s a blessing that should not be taken lightly.
Somewhere, mixed in with his plans to tax and spend, Senator Obama may have some desire to do something that may benefit some of us. But those benefits may come with accepting his interpretation of Free Speech.
And that raises the really tough question that only we can answer.
Is there anything so valuable he can offer us that it’s worth the price of sacrificing our constitutional right to Free Speech?
I can think of countless Americans who would respond, if they could, with a resounding no. They believed that there was absolutely nothing, including their own lives, of greater value than our constitutional rights. They died to ensure those rights would survive.
As I wrote this, I asked myself the tough question. I know my answer. Having the freedom to write this is beyond price.
Now it’s your turn. As you sit there, deciding whether you want to post and what you might want to say, remember that you are making choices that exist only because you have the inalienable right to Free Speech.
Then ask yourself the tough question.