A CHILLING EFFECT

Posted at 7:06 a.m. ET

The Los Angeles Times reports on an outrageous attempt by the Obama campaign to stifle basic American freedoms.  There have been several stories like this, and they raise profound questions about the way Obama would see the American Constitution, should he by chance get elected in November:

In a surprising attempt to stifle broadcast criticism of its candidate, the presidential campaign of freshman Illinois senator Barack Obama is organizing supporters to confront Chicago's WGN radio station for having a critic of the Illinois Democrat on its main evening discussion program.

"WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears," Obama's campaign wrote in an e-mail sent to supporters. "He's currently scheduled to spend a solid two-hour block from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. (Wednesday night) pushing lies, distortions, and manipulations about Barack and University of Illinois professor William Ayers."

And...

Obama's campaign is urging supporters to call the radio station to complain. "Tell WGN that....

...by providing Kurtz with airtime, they are legitimizing baseless attacks from a smear-merchant and lowering the standards of political discourse," the note said.

Gee.  The sky must be falling.

"It is absolutely unacceptable that WGN would give a slimy character assassin like Kurtz time for his divisive, destructive ranting on our public airwaves," the note continued. "At the very least, they should offer sane, honest rebuttal to every one of Kurtz's lies."

Zack Christenson, executive producer of the long-running interview program "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg," said the response from Obama supporters was strong. Rosenberg like Ayres is a college professor.

"I would say this is the biggest response we've ever got from a campaign or a candidate," said Christenson. "This is really unprecedented with the show, the way that people are flooding the calls and our email boxes."

This may be a taste of what we can expect if anyone dares to criticize President Obama.

Christenson also stressed that the Obama campaign was invited to send a representative to appear on the show to balance the discussion of the newly-opened documents. But the campaign headquarters just down Michigan Avenue from the station refused the request. This is not the first time Obama's organization has sought to steer supporters to influence a broadcast outlet airing criticism.

The McCain people should jump on this.  Frame it as an example of hack politics at its worst, which it is.  The Obama people have an inflated view of themselves and their candidate.   Someone has to let the air out of their balloon.

August 28, 2008.