Question: How do you know when the media's First Amendment right to free speech is under attack?
Answer: Don't worry, they'll tell you!
Just give them the 7th biggest radio show in America, a cable news show, a boatload of cash and the freedom to say whatever they want, and they'll tell you all about how persecuted they are.
The latest casualty of President Barack Obama's Soviet-style crackdown on freedom of the press is Andrea Tantaros, the curvy and cute co-host of "The Five" on Fox News, and star of "The Andrea Tantaros Show" on Talk Radio Network.
According to Talkers Magazine, "The Andrea Tantaros Show" is now the 7th biggest syndicated radio show in America. Tantaros also reaches nearly 2 million Americans every day on "The Five." Put the two together, and you might be under the misguided impression that this bright young woman is making a pretty good career for herself in the media.
But to hear her tell it, it's getting tougher and tougher for media personalities like her to accomplish anything under Obama's iron fist.
On her radio program last Thursday, Tantaros urged her listeners to confront President Obama's voters and "punch them in the face." Why? Because according to Tantaros, Obama is turning the United States into the Soviet Union!
"Let me tell you how people and journalists are being treated these days," she stated on her show. "They are being stalked. They are being spied on. This is what's happening to our press. This is Obama's America. It's like the Soviet Union."
Referring to Obama, she continued, "... A lot of people voted for him. And if you see any of those people today, do me a favor and punch them in the face."
Wow! With strong words like that, you'd almost forget that Andrea Tantaros's freedom of speech is under attack! You'd almost forget that rather than being stalked and spied on, she actually gets paid to speak her mind.
But Tantaros's remarks were nothing compared to Pete Santilli, the far-right radio host who now finds himself the target of a Secret Service investigation after stating his desire to shoot Hillary Clinton "in the vagina."
Yes, you read that correctly! The same media types who say their freedom of speech is under attack are now openly advocating the shooting of government officials in the genitals. Did talk radio hosts do that under Joseph Stalin? Just wondering.
(Did they even have talk radio under Stalin?)
Two weeks ago on his radio program, Santilli accused former Secretary of State Clinton of being "involved in the killings of American troops." He then stated, "I want to shoot her right in the vagina. I want her to feel the pain and I want to look her in the eyes and I want to say, on behalf of all Americans that you've killed, on behalf of the Navy SEALS, I'm supporting our troops by saying we need to try, convict, and shoot Hillary Clinton in the vagina."
That's an actual quote, folks.
Now read that quote again, and ask yourself an honest question: Is the media's freedom of speech really under attack? Is the media being stalked and spied on?
I'm a talk radio host myself, and all I can say is this -- I go on the air three hours a day, five days a week and I try to offer my listeners an intelligent, entertaining and informative discussion. I have not once been contacted by the Secret Service, I have never been targeted by the FCC, I have not once been spied on by the Department of Justice or any other government agency. Maybe that's a coincidence, or maybe it's because I don't talk about shooting people in the vagina. Either way, I'm fairly confident my First Amendment right to free speech is not under attack.
But according to Andrea Tantaros, I've got a lot to worry about. I'm under attack! I can't say what I want to say, because this President and his Stalin-esque comrades are spying on me. Right?
Meanwhile, Sean Hannity goes on the airwaves every day and calls the President a liar. Rush Limbaugh goes on the airwaves and calls women sluts. Anne Coulter goes on the airwaves and calls people retards. Michael Savage -- who isn't even allowed in the United Kingdom, due to his venomous hate -- makes a ton of money in the United States by calling for the genocide of Muslims. Alex Jones says Navy SEALS blew up the Boston Marathon.
You would think if President Obama wanted to crack down on First Amendment rights, he'd start with these knuckleheads. But they all continue to make a ton of money making outrageous, idiotic, and sometimes dangerous statements. And I'm supposed to believe their First Amendment rights are under attack?
It seems to me the problem we have in America today is not so much a president who doesn't respect the First Amendment rights of the media. The problem we have today is a media that exercises its First Amendment rights with little respect for the great responsibility that comes with it.
Either way, if this is what the Soviet Union looks like, sign me up! It looks pretty good from where I'm standing.