American Republic Online

(The local cable monopoly has finally anointed me as worthy of access to the internet again…)

Recently, presidential hopeful senator Clinton reacted quite strongly to an MSNBC host’s comments regarding her daughter, Chelsea. As ARO has pointed before, Mrs. Clinton doesn’t take too kindly to those who speak out against her. True, his comments were a bit much, but it still raises an important issue: will the senator continue to “kneecap” those who criticize her if she becomes our next president? What if the criticism comes from a foreign “dignitary” (i.e. dictator)? Will she allow herself to be goaded?

However, on the other side, we have senator McCain, co-author of McCain-Feingold, a terrible abridgment of free speech. McCain’s violation is different: he comes across more as a “love of country means obedience of country.” This is still, nonetheless, disheartening.

To make matters worse, they both feel entitled to the presidency (or, at least the nomination). McCain for being pushed aside in 2000, and Clinton for all she’s gone through for her husband. I can only imagine someone who felt they deserve the position would only react more strongly to derision, or even disagreement.

So it comes down to this, the two front-runners for the presidential nominations are no friends of free speech, neither likes to be disagreed with, and both are approaching their impending nomination as an entitlement. Great.

Update: Oops.