thenation.com
There are outrages, and then there are outrages. Check out the ads that Comcast cable refused, at the last minute, to let the nation's largest peace group run on CNN in Washington D.C. before and after the President's State of the Union speech. Comcast said the ads made "unsubstantiated claims" about the war (though much the same could be said of the President). Yet these ads are absolutely innocuous; they are merely a series of Americans voicing concerns that aren't even remotely radical. We're talking about sound-bites along the lines of "I need to see more proof," or "we have other priorities," or "this war will not make us safe." View the ads and you'll agree this is a clear- cut case of pro-government censorship -- not "spin" or "bias," but censorship -- on CNN, in the nation's capitol, on a topic as deeply serious as whether to go to war, and on one of the most important days of that debate.
If he wishes to be remembered as the leader of a democracy, the President must immediately rebuke Comcast; this blatant case of censorship should become a national scandal, and the responsible people at Comcast should be identified, hauled before Congress to testify, and fired. Tell Comcast, the President and your member of Congress that we live in a free country. |
