Palin: First Amendment Rights Threatened By Criticism

ABC News reports:

In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by "attacks" from reporters who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Barack Obama.

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."

Salon's Glenn Greenwald explains why this argument is frighteningly wrong:

If anything, Palin has this exactly backwards, since one thing that the First Amendment does actually guarantee is a free press. Thus, when the press criticizes a political candidate and a Governor such as Palin, that is a classic example of First Amendment rights being exercised, not abridged.

This isn't only about profound ignorance regarding our basic liberties, though it is obviously that. Palin here is also giving voice here to the standard right-wing grievance instinct: that it's inherently unfair when they're criticized. And now, apparently, it's even unconstitutional.

According to Palin, what the Founders intended with the First Amendment was that political candidates for the most powerful offices in the country and Governors of states would be free to say whatever they want without being criticized in the newspapers. The First Amendment was meant to ensure that powerful political officials would not be "attacked" in the papers. It is even possible to imagine more breathaking ignorance from someone holding high office and running for even higher office?

Comments

[merle7]

AND THIS WOMAN HAS A JOURNALISM DEGREE!!!!!!!!!!

[watchingthings]

She had to"work" for the deans of 5 different campusses to get her journalist degree. Other then being half assed smart...there is no other way of accomplishing this.

[Vergadoce]

It's how you secure a job a Fox News. Incompetence, mediocrity and partianship means you can be Sean Hannity too.

[lephead]

Face it , she's a whack job, and a whack job is as a whack job does.

[Redhead]

Sarah Palin and the GOP attacks on Obama and the internet smears are all just that, smears and lies that have long been disproven. Yet the attacks and smears continue and now Palin and the GOP say they are a matter of an infringement of her "free speech". I would guess they have crossed the line and they are probably prosecutable as slander. This is the worst I've seen in my 76 years. Yes, SLANDER, you betcha sweetie!

[JumperNCO]

The only thing I find through reviewing the more than 7000 comments by what appears to be a whole lot of liberal Democrats is the fact that the majority of your party has little regard for female candidates for the presidency. This was proven by the rejection of Hillary by the majority of you and the vicious attacks by the self-proclaimed "intellectual wizards" attacking Gov Palin. She runs a state, apparently pretty well according to the people of Alaska. What are the rest of you doing? What are your qualifications? You are the reason people view a substantial number of you as incapable of sharing the right to disagree on political issues and thereby invalidating your right to vote. You embarrass me. I will never agree with this drivel or how you present it.

[Biff Stiffley]

Wow. I don't remember any comments denigrating her as a woman. I did, however, find a bunch of women who said that her stance on the issue of abortion scares the hell out of them. I also read a bunch of posts that address her ignorant statement. Her (mis)interpretation of the first amendment is beyond belief. Do you really want a person who cannot understand the Bill of Rights as VP or President? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and lost pretty much everything else.

[webprogrammer]

1. Palin is not a female candidate for the Presidency.
2. The only thing proven by Hillary not being the candidate is that many of us knew who the stronger candidate would be.
3. "What are your qualifications?" I have the only qualification required for voting against a clearly inferior candidate and for voicing my opinions. I'm an American citizen.
4. I don't see anyone interfering with your right to disagree on political issues. You seem to be arguing that if WE don't agree with YOU, it invalidates our right to vote. You SHOULD embarrass yourself.
5. No one asked you to agree. You can disagree with us, and (wait for it) we can disagree with you. Is this a great country or what?

[nimblehuman]

Then move to Russia where Putin rules as Palin would.

[Juliebean]

Interesting comments.

"little regard for female candidates" --- Questioning Palin's knowledge of the constitution does not qualify as an attack on her sex any more than questioning Obama's experience is an attack on his race. True political discussion does not need to fall back on name-calling and prejudice. The comments I've seen regarding her gender reflect sadness that a presidential candidate would choose an inferior running mate in the hopes of garnering the female vote. It demeans the intelligence of the female voting public.

"What are your qualifications?" ---- as someone above so ably stated, we are the voting public. It sounds as though most of us have read and understand the Bill of Rights. I'm concerned that perhaps one of the VP candidates isn't so well-informed.

"incapable of sharing the right to disagree on political issues and thereby invalidating your right to vote" --- It sounds as though you prefer an oligarchy. Please find one and move there.

[alexis d]

This woman makes my brain bleed.

[digguron]

Well dear Sarah,Very much looking forward to 2012,i will sign up tomorrow to fight to keep you in Alaska where you belong,Happy hunting!

[Bendersky]

Actually, Palin has it right. George Bush successfully outlawed criticism by the press eight years ago, or at least that's what its seemed like, they've acted so cowed and spineless.

I find it horrific and amusing that republicans are already touting this dim bulb as the next republican savior. I know idiocy is only keeping with GOP tradition, but I also see it as a good indicator as to how corrupt and compromised they've truly become. Still mistaking likability for ability.

[Vote4SmartPrez]

Let's see here - a journalism major VPOTUS candidate who does not understand the 1st Amendment ??- - OUCH!!! If there was ever a case for immediately pumping massive amounts of funding into our education system, this (and people voting for such idiocy) is it!!!

[tomrowe125]

Sarah Palin: Vanguard of the Idiocracy. Universe help us if she wins...

[MHamlen]

Sarah Palin teaching Civics Class. Lesson 5, the Amendments:

See, there's ten, right? God came down in this burning bush (But not the Bush you're thinkin' about) and gave them to Benjamin Franklin who was standing on Bunker Hill and God said, "These are only my suggestions and you can get all mavericky with them if you feel like it." That was on the day after the Flood when God drownded all the Dinosaurs and the British. And America was free from Tyranny and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Amen.

Gotta love Creationist American History.

[curly2]

She's an embarrassment to educated women. And a whiner to boot.

[jimbeaux1961]

"My childlike intellect and vocabulary are threatening my Free Speech rights, goshdarn it!"

[Macaniff]

She who lives by the sword (of words) dies by the sword (of words). Enough manipulation and fear mongering. Enough!!

[daedelus]

For the love of America, let's vote this sociopathic dunce back into anonymity.

[zeitgeist79]

At this point, nothing this woman says surprises me. She has taken anti-intel­lectualism to a profoundly new low. The most distressing thing about this misunderstanding of the First Amendment is that the concept is fairly simple to grasp. Even children learn what this basic right means. It's one thing to not be familiar with some historically relevant information, but it's entirely different to not have the ability to understand simple concepts. Someone can be taught to remember facts, but you cannot teach someone to think.

My biggest fear with Sarah Palin so close to the presidency is not that she wouldn't have people around her to explain how things work, it's that she wouldn't understand what those people are even talking about when they do the explaining.

[kenwig]

Not only is it a First Amendment freedom, but it is also the DUTY of the press to expose poser candidates' lack of elementary civics.