Why do Congressional Democrats fear free speech?

[cwo_ghwebb]

Efforts in both chambers of Congress have Republicans wondering why Democrats seem to fear free speech. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) has proposed limitations on how Representatives can post information to the Internet in a time when we should be demanding more transparency, not less. According to a source in the Senate, Dianne Feinstein has begun her own campaign to force Senators to seek permission before communicating over the Internet.

As my source put it, these are the key issues:

• Under their scheme, the Senate Rules Committee would become the Internet speech police for everyone in the Senate.
  • It will be up to the committee to “sanction” which websites and forms of communication they deem appropriate.
  • The Rules Committee thus gets to pick winners and losers among various websites in terms of which are appropriate for use.

• The Rules Committee would get to regulate communication through any site not ending in “senate.gov,” which would include sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

• Further, this could jeopardize guest posts at sites like RedState and Townhall.

• The Rules Committee would require senators to moderate “any public commentary” which would likely mean regulating comments on guest posts and YouTube videos, among other things.

It also raises a number of questions:

• Would this rule extend beyond comments to posts on the site?
  • Would it affect Slatecard & BlogAds?
  • How about something like The Ed Morrissey Show, which has a live chatroom? Would that have to be moderated?

• The Rules Committee would get to act as the “Content KGB” since it can require the removal of content in violation of Senate Rules. And who determines what’s in violation? The Rules Committee.
  • There are no similar controls on any other form of communication with the public, such as publishing op-eds in newspapers or appearing on radio or television.

The sudden interest in silencing Congress goes right along with the brand-new 9% approval rating the Democratic leadership has earned Congress. Imagine how much worse it will get when they gag their members and force an end to communication through policy sites, blogs, and Internet media.

Why do Congressional Democrats fear free speech?

And these are the folks that think the Fairness Doctrine is good policy.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

And these are the folks that think the Fairness Doctrine is good policy.

...you know anything about the fairness doctrine, you know it's the same thing' censorship. The left don't want free speech and the right is too weak to push the issue.

[cwo_ghwebb]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

...you know anything about the fairness doctrine, you know it's the same thing' censorship. The left don't want free speech and the right is too weak to push the issue.

Guess they think their approval rating at 9% is too high. Wish somebody with power would stand up for us.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

Guess they think their approval rating at 9% is too high. Wish somebody with power would stand up for us.

...don't worry. Once President Obama is sworn in, there will be all kinds of GOP'ers who have found that their testicles suddenly descended.

There is just something innate about Republican who reach national office; they're not fighters. They're not principled. They just kinda go about keeping their bigger constituents happy and don't make much trouble. Until there's business to be done being a 'conservative'.

[cwo_ghwebb]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

...don't worry. Once President Obama is sworn in, there will be all kinds of GOP'ers who have found that their testicles suddenly descended.

There is just something innate about Republican who reach national office; they're not fighters. They're not principled. They just kinda go about keeping their bigger constituents happy and don't make much trouble. Until there's business to be done being a 'conservative'.

You musta had a bad day at work, you're on a roll tonight!

The ones who do fight get ostracized by the Party and then can't do much for their constituents.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

You musta had a bad day at work, you're on a roll tonight!

The ones who do fight get ostracized by the Party and then can't do much for their constituents.

...there's another FREAKING kitten on the farm and one of my girls is flipping out over the stupid thing and I feel like a total moron for even telling her about it.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

The ones who do fight get ostracized by the Party and then can't do much for their constituents.

...it's called PRINCIPLE.

Term limits. Taxes. Foreign policy. Energy. Regulation. Freedom. Liberty. All of that stupid bull####.

Reagan was disdained by the Bush wing of the GOP. Too quaint. Not a realist. Too ideological. You know, too principled.

Power corrupted them, us.

[lbreder]

Can I just bring up one reason as to why the internet might be reguloated/blocked?

Do your tax dollars go to pay for your Representative and his/her staff to be surfing the net? How would you feel if they were trading stocks or buying a new TV on ebay instead of legislating? I work on a government system and there is no facebook, myspace, etc. I know for me, (Stenny Hoyer won't do anything I agree with anyway) I don't want my Representative doing anything more than what he was elected to do there.

[ImnoMensa]

I think most Senate staffers just delete emails they dont want to read and then send out inane responses that assure you they do want to hear from you. You know they BS the piblic.

[ItalianScallion (Premo)]

Why do they fear free speech? Evil always fears good. The lib's own the tv & print medias but they don't have a firm hold on the radio or internet, but they want it. The fairness doctrine is anything but fair as you folks already know.
If it weren't for a VERY few AM radio shows, we wouldn't have anyplace to get true news reporting from. It's ok for "wrong" to tell us that they are right (in their eyes) but it is not ok for us to tell them they are wrong (in our eyes). See the logic? They do.
Pelosi wants to silence the likes of Michael Savage, Rush, Hannity, LeVin, Liddy, etc., because they constantly speak out against them. No one likes to be told they're wrong all the time even if they are. This is why they want all religious symbols out of government places. They make stealing, adultery & lying look like they are wrong and that makes some government leaders uncomfortable. Imagine if Bill Clinton would have seen the words: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" while he was playing with his harMonica.....