Violating The First

Well, I’m sorry to inform all of you that I most likely have been violating the First Amendment. According to the esteemed governor of Alaska, “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 of WMAL-AM, “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.” Wow. Yes, you heard that right. If the press – the FREE press, guaranteed FREE by THE FIRST AMENDMENT – criticizes a publicly elected official for their public comments, THAT is a violation of the Constitution according to Palin. I’m pretty sure that criticism IS the First Amendment being enacted, not violated. Glenn Greenwald wrote a very thorough commentary of the whole affair on Salon.com.