GOP VP Nominee Sarah Palin told a DC radio host that criticism of her by the press infringes on her First Amendment rights during an interview that aired Friday. In an interview on WMAL-AM Radio, Palin told host Chris Plante, regarding her repeated references to Barack Obama’s former Pastor Jeremiah Wright and neighbor William Ayers:

“If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations, 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.”

Here we are on Election Day, and I still find this candidate simply unbelievable. Here’s a news flash for the Alaska Governor: Freedom of the Press is a First Amendment right. That means it’s the job of the press to ask tough questions of public officials and to criticize their actions with a degree of regularity, irregardless of the Republican party’s apparent desire to be handled with kid gloves as they have been throughout recent years. This entire premise of the GOP ticket that basically anything that is unfavorable to their prospects is now not only UnAmerican but also unconstitutional is so warped that it has turned their understanding of our core principles inside out in a cynical effort to try and benefit their campaign. All of this nonsense is a sad cry from Senator John McCain’s principled stances of years passed.

You can takepart in helping protect our true First Amendment by supporting the American Civil Liberties Union.

LINKS:

ABC News: Palin Fear Media Threaten Her First Amendment Rights

UPI: Palin says her free speech threatened

Indecision 2008: I Guess I’m About to Violate Sarah Palin’s 1st Amendment Rights