Free speech and the left

Back at my old AF joint, I had a running series of posts on instances of left-wing types failing to live up to the ideal of free speech: namely, an open and frank discussion of the issues. The first is here, the most recent is here.

It’s one thing for individuals such as Noam Chomsky to refuse to debate Christopher Hitchens on the issues; that’s a personal failing, and a mild hypocrisy at that. It’s another thing entirely for a political figure to mobilize his supporters, whip them into a mob-like frenzy, and let them loose on media outlets that say something the candidate disagrees with. But that’s exactly what Obama has been doing in this election.

The Chicago Tribune has finally taken notice. An excerpt:

A page on the campaign’s Web site, headlined “Hit ’em where it hurts,” told supporters how to complain to advertisers at stations that ran a recent anti-Obama ad.

“We’ll provide you with talking points on this maliciously false hit ad to help guide you through the process,” the page said, citing a spot run by a conservative group called the American Issues Project.

The campaign says supporters sent roughly 100,000 e-mails in August to stations that aired the ad, which criticized Obama for his ties to former 1960s radical William Ayers.

I’ve made jokes about Obama and the cult of personality before, but this is creepy, Fascistic stuff. What was the phrase Al Gore once used, “digital brownshirts”? Why am I not surprised that they actually rose to prominence on the left?