Palin Gets the First Amendment Wrong

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Last updated on November 11th, 2019 at 03:16 pm

Once again, Sarah Palin showed her fragile grasp of the Constitution when she claimed that media attacks on her violate her First Amendment right to attack Barack Obama. The problem is that the First Amendment deals with Congress passing laws regulating speech, not the media.

According to ABC News, Palin asserted to WMAL-AM in Washington D.C. that the media is protecting Obama, “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.”

Palin kept up her attack on what she called the mainstream media and elites, “It’s sort of perplexing to me, because I’m a practical person and plainspoken also, but just cutting to the chase and calling things like I see them, just like most Americans. But this has not left a bitter taste in my mouth, the bitter shots taken by the mainstream media and by some of the elitism there in Washington.” Let’s start with the obvious, the media has nothing to do with supression of speech in the First Amendment.

Here is the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Someone really needs to sit Sarah down and explain to her that the First Amendment is about government suppression of speech, not media commentary.

Palin has no idea what is in the Constitution, yet she wants to run for president in 2012. She should not even be running for vice president. Anybody who doesn’t know what the vice president does, can’t name any Supreme Court cases, and then gets the First Amendment wrong, does not belong in national politics. Heck, she probably isn’t qualified to be governor of Alaska. Look long and hard Republicans, and remember when this buffoon was supposed to be your savior.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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