THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

WHAT ABOUT SOME RESTRICTIONS ON LIBERAL CAMPAIGNS? | 2001-04-07

Under the McCain-Feingold Bill, almost every non-party group would be banned from campaigning during the sixty days before the election.

I say "almost" because one industry is totally exempted: the media.

If you restrict anybody else, it's just a needed reform. If you restrict the media's endorsements and outright campaigning, it's a violation of freedom of the press.

Nobody disagrees, least of all respectable conservatives.

Even some conservatives have mentioned that one of the things leftists love about McCain's latest effort is that it increases the power of the liberal media. What they do not mention is the fact that it also reinforces the double standard liberals love, the double standard that respectable conservatives exist to support.

So the idea is accepted that the MEDIA'S right to push the liberal agenda is true freedom--- freedom of the press. No other Americans have that right.