Bush to Free Speech: Drop Dead

Today Bush is saying that he wants to work with McCain to put an end to 527's, either by legal action now or by legislation later. In fact, he's filing with the Federal Election Commission to get the ads pulled off the air.

This is an enormous flip-flop (see my earlier post), and it basically says "I don't believe in free speech." Now, Kerry went to court to stop the Swift Boat ads, and it really was under the cover of coordination with the Bush campaign. But that was wrong too, I feel, and this is just incredibly wrong. It's also incredibly in line with an administration that wants to crush free speech wherever it lurks, whether on the radio with Howard Stern, or in its own campaign rallies with dissenting T-shirts and audience members who don't sign loyalty oaths, to protesters that must be confined to free speech zones. This administration can't take the heat, so it tries to turn off the burner. It's disgusting and anti-American. (and yes, I'd tell you to "shove it" if you don't think so)

But you won't hear this from the Kerry camp, because in many ways they're doing the same thing. I hope Kerry realizes that the right to speech is inalienable, and when he's in office he won't try to stamp it out the way this President has.