Last time I looked, “Speech Intimidation by US Senators” was not in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. This is this, however (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.
And then you see this – who should we blame more, those ignoramuses or these chuckleheads (reformatted, emphasis mine)?
Democrats Plan to Pressure TV Networks Into Covering Climate Change
Senate Democrats pledging to get more aggressive on climate change will soon pressure the major TV networks to give the topic far greater attention on the Sunday talking-head shows. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, are gathering colleagues’ signatures on a letter to the networks asserting that they’re ignoring global warming.
“It is beyond my comprehension that you have ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, that their Sunday shows have discussed climate change in 2012, collectively, for all of eight minutes,” Sanders said, citing analysis by the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America.
Right. DEMOCRAT US Senators, who have sworn to uphold the US Constitution (that would mean, every.single.word) have decided to shred the spirit of the Constitution, stomp on the free speech of others, have a hissy fit, simply because other folks don’t believe their issue should be their issue as well? Dunno about you but getting a letter from US Senators screams “Intimidation” – and Sanders just played that card.
Sanders mentioned the letter during a press conference with most other members of Senate Democrats’ new, 19-member Climate Action Task Force, and he elaborated on it in a brief interview afterward. “Sunday news shows are obviously important because they talk to millions of people, but they go beyond that by helping to define what the establishment considers to be important and what is often discussed during the rest of the week,” he said.
Sanders said lawmakers plan to send the letter within days. The amount of Sunday TV coverage is way out of whack with the topic’s weight, he added. “What [the networks] are saying is, climate change is a non-important issue, it is an irrelevant issue, and yet the scientific community tells us that it is the greatest crisis facing this planet,” he said.
Oh, so he’s also upset that the networks won’t just utter “the company line”? So it is a case of “You WILL give us air time”, eh? Will we see the next step: “Nice network you guys have there (thanks to us licensing you)…shame if something were to happen to it.”
After all, in a Socialist (which Bernie is self-declared) / Progressive world, there can be only one truth. Free Speech – such a quaint notion. I guess “perish the thought that you should think something other than what I tell you to” is coming to a Country Near You?
(H/T: National Journal)
