"The Coming Obama Thugocracy"

Doc Paul linked to this excellent Michael Barone piece in another post, but I think it's worthy of excerpting here. Folks, I just don't know how to make it any plainer -- the stakes are chillingly, frighteningly high in this election, and much of the electorate resembles non-thinking zombies, rather than rational, informed people, free to (wisely, one would hope) choose their next president. Is this the kind of America we want? Is this the kind of "change" we need?

"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors,” Barack Obama told a crowd in Elko, Nev. “I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” Actually, Obama supporters are doing a lot more than getting into people’s faces. They seem determined to shut people up.

That’s what Obama supporters, alerted by campaign emails, did when conservative Stanley Kurtz appeared on Milt Rosenberg’s WGN radio program in Chicago. Kurtz had been researching Obama's relationship with unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers in Chicago Annenberg Challenge papers in the Richard J. Daley Library in Chicago — papers that were closed off to him for some days, apparently at the behest of Obama supporters.

Obama fans jammed WGN’s phone lines and sent in hundreds of protest emails. The message was clear to anyone who would follow Rosenberg’s example. We will make trouble for you if you let anyone make the case against The One.

Other Obama supporters have threatened critics with criminal prosecution. In September, St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce warned citizens that they would bring criminal libel prosecutions against anyone who made statements against Obama that were “false.” I had been under the impression that the Alien and Sedition Acts had gone out of existence in 1801-02. Not so, apparently, in metropolitan St. Louis. Similarly, the Obama campaign called for a criminal investigation of the American Issues Project when it ran ads highlighting Obama's ties to Ayers.

These attempts to shut down political speech have become routine for liberals. Congressional Democrats sought to reimpose the “fairness doctrine” on broadcasters, which until it was repealed in the 1980s required equal time for different points of view. The motive was plain: to shut down the one conservative-leaning communications medium, talk radio. Liberal talk-show hosts have mostly failed to draw audiences, and many liberals can’t abide having citizens hear contrary views.

Free speech for me, but not for thee (unless of course, you believe what we do)! And the Left has the audacity to pummel the Right as "fascists????" They dare to accuse Sarah Palin of esoteric racism simply because she wears a white jacket to a rally?

And now, from Gateway Pundit, who links to the story on Life News, I read that ABC is refusing to run an ad from the National Right to Life, criticizing Obama's deplorable record on abortion:

On Friday, NRLC received notice from ABC Radio Network that it would not air the ad during Hannity's radio program.

In an email to National Right to Life, ABC Radio Network executives claimed the ad, "while supporting aspects of a Pro-Life position, weighs more heavily toward electioneering."
However, the ad is paid for by the NRLC political action committee, which is allowed to do "electioneering" under federal law.

"ABC's rejection smacks of being a politically motivated gag order," NRLC communications director Derrick Jones told LifeNews.com. "It seems that the pro-Obama leanings of the mainstream media have overflowed into their sales departments as well. To reject a political action committee's ad because they think it is too political, borders on the absurd."

Jones pointed out that, four years ago, the group ran similar radio ads on the ABC network without any censorship from its executives.

Wherever you may stand on abortion, surely you can comprehend that the real issue in this particular instance is the shut-down of free speech?

This is but another demonstration of the dinosaur media's "cone of protection" for their preferred candidate. They are so afraid of telling America the truth, because they acknowledge most citizens (even pro-choice ones) favor restrictions on abortion. If they knew the ugly truth about Obama's record, they'd reject him soundly. That applies not only to life, but to an entire range of issues, from national security to the economy. So they will do anything, anything to get him into the White House. And too many Americans are all too willing to dutifully go along for the ride.

Just as a reminder, here's Gianna Jessen, abortion survivor: