Criminalizing Debate

Subject: txt lbrty crpt libs -
Free Speech: Those fighting unprecedented federal expansion appeal to constitutional principles. With Bill Clinton deployed to demonize the Tea Party movement, is it really the Constitution those in power fear?

There is something terrifying to Democratic leaders about the flavor and the force of the Tea Party, so on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, they portrayed the group as a bunch of Timothy McVeighs.

Joe Klein of Time magazine, whose "anonymous" novel "Primary Colors" sought to immortalize the Clintons, on Sunday told Chris Matthews on NBC that the statements of Fox News commentator Glenn Beck and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin "rub right up close to being seditious."

Sedition — it's a word usually reserved for government moles who deliver secrets that uncover our spies and get them killed, or conspirators constructing fertilizer bombs in the basement.

Is it really seditious to warn that forcing Americans to buy insurance might violate our constitutional rights? Do you have to be a member of a right-wing militia to worry that we're speeding ever faster toward a fiscal train wreck? Are you a deranged John Hinckley wannabe if you express concern about the administration softening our nuclear use doctrine, or scaling down missile defense?

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[I'd say 'portrayal' vs. reality.]

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