Obama: Champion of Some Speech

The Washington Times:

Here's how it works. A message goes out over Barack Obama's Web site with the names, phone numbers and e-mails of editors and producers foolish enough to host Obama critics. With Mr. Obama's extensive digital following, and his extensive fund-raising and contact lists, shutting up the Democratic nominee's critics with a fraction of Mr. Obama's millions of supporters is relatively simple. The digital legions plug phone lines, crash servers and intimidate the advertisers of these media outlets. This must be another instance of the "new" politics that Mr. Obama frequently talks about.

. . . . . . . .

"The Action Wire serves as a means of arming our supporters with the facts to take on those who spread lies about Barack Obama and respond forcefully with the truth, whether it's an author passing off fiction as biography, a Web site spreading baseless conspiracy theories or a TV station airing an ad that makes demonstrably false claims," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt told the Tribune.

How Orwellian. Mr. LaBolt defends the very actions that prevent WGN-AM and others from airing the facts, as though obstructionism is an "airing of facts."

Note to the Obama campaign: Informed observers don't get "the facts" only from a political campaign. They read and listen to the independent media outlets - the same outlets the thin-skinned Mr. Obama is currently trying to quash.

Slublog, over at Ace's digs:

McCain may not be perfect, but he's preferable to Obama, who has allowed his mask to slip a bit in the last few weeks. He's a typical machine politician who seems far too comfortable shutting down speech he doesn't like. Is encouraging such thuggery an example of the "community organizing" of which Obama is so proud?

One of the great ironies of this election is that liberals are worshipping a guy who embodies everything they claim to hate about the Bush administration.

Civil liberties for me, but not for thee. What's shocking is that these dirty tricks are being handled by the Obama Campaign, out in the open. Tactics that used to be hidden are now flagrant. Life imitates Monty Python:

It's crazy; how can anyone really consider voting for this guy?