The media can’t claim that they weren’t warned:
Let’s consider some examples of the many unheeded warnings that free speech would be endangered should Barack Obama become president. The initial threat to launch criminal prosecutions over the Ayers ad set off a flurry of brief but pointed predictions. Michelle Malkin, one of the first and most energetic to cover these controversies, warned, “The Obama campaign is giving a glimpse of the future for conservative free speech.” Over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey suggested that ”bullying people through the Department of Justice as a candidate will cause reasonable people to wonder what will happen if Obama gets elected.” The editors of National Review decried ”a desperate call for the Justice Department to muzzle political speech through the prospect of a criminal investigation – a demand that provides a disturbing sneak peak into what life would be like under an Obama Justice Department.”
The controversy over my appearance on the Milt Rosenberg show meant there were now two incidents to discuss, so the warnings grew a bit sharper and more detailed. Writing at NRO’s Media Blog, Guy Benson said, “This tendency to lash out and engage in baseless name-calling not only smacks of desperation; it also may foreshadow an Obama presidency’s strategy in handling unfavorable media reports and sources.” Powerline’s John Hinderaker’s remarks seem pertinent today: “If Obama is elected President, will he appoint an Attorney General who will carry out politically-motivated prosecutions like the one he is now demanding? I suppose we can’t know for sure, but why wouldn’t he? If he demands criminal prosecution of free speech that opposes his political interests when he’s a candidate, why wouldn’t he order it as President?” Meanwhile, five years before controversies over the AP, James Rosen, and Sharyl Attkisson, Ed Morrissey suggested that, for their own sake, national media ought to stop ignoring Obama’s assaults on the press: “Maybe other journalists should take heed. If Obama becomes president and they commit the crime of Journalism in the First Degree, how will these same people react with the full weight of the federal government behind them? If they stoop to character assassination now, what will they do when they have much more powerful tools at their disposal?”
They didn’t want to know, or believe it, any more than with the Clintons. He was their guy.
And speaking of warnings, the Republicans who voted to confirm Eric Holder should be particularly ashamed:
I became aware of Holder’s 1995 investigation of Rich after Holder’s confirmation-hearing testimony, but wrote about it before the vote on his nomination. This demonstration that Holder had given misleading testimony to Congress in the 2001 pardon investigation and the 2009 confirmation hearing, simply added to the Rich pardon itself and the remaining mountain of reasons to reject his nomination. Yet, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm him, 75-21. Joining 54 Democrats were 19 Republicans – Alexander (Tenn.), Bennett (Utah), Bond (Mo.), Chambliss (Ga.), Collins (Maine), Corker (Tenn.), Graham (S.C.), Grassley (Iowa), Gregg (N.H.), Hatch (Utah), Isakson (Ga.), Kyl (Ariz.), Lugar (Ind.), McCain (Ariz.), Murkowski (Alaska), Sessions (Ala.), Snowe (Maine), Specter (Pa.), and Voinovich (Ohio).
What a waste of oxygen those “Republicans” were.
While a few have been shown the door in subsequent years, what you’ve got at the end there is a roll call of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.
Which is quite a contrast to the Democrat wing of the Republicans, which has had zero members since Lieberman been gone. (and Holy Joe was only a squish only on foreign matters.)
Count them up. I count 9 of them that are gone already or have announced retirement by 2014. So, we’ve already started pushing out some of the RINO’s. Maybe we’ll get more guys in 2014 with spines like Ted Cruz, too. One can hope.
And, we can count on McCain and Graham to go whichever way the wind is blowing, too.
Statists acting statist. Shocker!