Not a First Amendment Issue Yet, But Give It a Few Weeks of Fast Fund-Raising and We've Got a Problem

So I'm in line at the grocery store yesterday and a couple of guys a few feet away are talking about how Don Imus got screwed.

"What about I=man's freedom of speech," one of them said, voice filled with outrage. "What about his First Amendment rights?"

I was tempted, but did not turn to him and say:

"It's not a First Amendment issue. The government didn't force Imus off the air. CBS and MSNBC made business decisions. What you witnessed is the intersection of the marketplace of ideas and commerce."

And then I would have walked nobly from the store with my grilled chicken breast and bag of dried figs, leaving them aghast at my wisdom and nobility. Except that I didn't say it because having conversations with strangers in grocery lines too often leads to discussions about the particular mishap of bodily functions that explains the purchase of whatever embarrassing person hygiene item is inevitably atop their shopping cart.

On the other hand, Al Sharpton is making noises like maybe he'd like the government to step in to clean up the airwaves, which in Sharpton's world means that everyone has to talk in the calm, reasoned tone for which Sharpton is so justifiably famous. That would be a First Amendment issue.

Comments

[Pursuit]

Dried figs? Isn't that kind of middle eastern?

[fish]

Watch how fast Sharpton fades back into the shadows now that this grenade has detonated. Other than the fact that the networks will point a camera at him when they need to go to the "designated negro" nobody really wants to hear from him!

[Conrad]

Sharpton "fades back into the shadows"?

Not so long as one of the two major parties continues to act as his enabler.

[fish]

Of course Sharpton will fade now that the networks and various second rate pols are done with him! I didn't say that they wouldn't take him back out of the box the next time he was needed for the next "black community" we're upset moment!

[Conrad]

Among the current presidentail candidates to troop hat in hand to kowtow before Sharpton have been Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barak Obama and Joe Biden. Whether these are "second rate pols" is in the eye of the beholder. . . .