Still Burned Out...

...but I just read something that I feel I have to comment on, because I think it's yet another example of John McCain's poor judgement in choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. According to Palin, and as reported here by ABC News, she fears that her First Amendment rights are being threatened by reporters suggesting that she's engaging in negative campaigning against Barack Obama. Here's an excerpt from the article, including a quote from Palin:

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."

How does anyone suggesting that she's going negative constitute a threat to her free speech rights? No one is stopping her from doing it, and every day this week, both she and McCain have engaged in negative campaigning. Her quote, I think, is very telling - "If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning..." I don't think the news media needs to do any convincing - anyone could listen to her remarks and determine by themselves that it's negative campaigning. Governor Palin must think that most people are waiting to have their opinions spoonfed to them. And I certainly don't believe that she's afraid of being attacked by the mainstream media - I think "mainstream media" is code for any news organization other than Fox - this is just part of the Republican strategy of smearing the media, I suppose because the love affair with John McCain is over. But is that the news media's fault, or John McCain's, since the Straight-Talk Express became the No-Talk express?

Anyway, I think this is just another demonstration of Palin's incompetence, and her inability to distinguish between criticism and censorship has exposed a fundamental misreading of the First Amendment on her part.

Okay, I'm quitting - really.

-EB