Originally Posted By: Chris Zick
 Originally Posted By: BASAMS The Plumber
These are scary times. When in the history of the US has the government asked citizens to report other citizens for political speech?


I'm interested in finding out about the people organizing the disinformation campaigns going on and if there's something comparable to what happened in 2000 during the election, where Republicans staged angry mobs.



The "republicans/insurance companies/talk radio/today's boogeymen are staging this" is the current official DNC talking point so I'm not surpised that Zick is parroting it here.

Unfortunately, it misses a key point, namely, that even if it WERE staged, there's a First Amendment right to do so. In fact, even if it WERE staged (a point I do not concede), the right to stage and organize protests is quite possibly the MOST basic of rights given under the U.S. Constitution. It's called "Freedom of Assembly."

Therefore, when Zick says it's okay for Obama to be doing this he's basically admitting that he thinks harassing people for exercising their First Amendment rights is okay...as long as the harassed are protesting a Democrat.