More Heavy Handed Assaults On Free Speech From Obama Brigades

This is how Obama handles criticism. This is how he handles the truth. He tries to shut it down, or drown out his opponents lest their points be heard.

In August, The Obama campaign sent out a “call-to-action email” to Obama’s minions in order to shut down Stanley Kurtz’s appearance on Milt Rosenberg’s radio program in Chicago, about the work he was doing on the Annenberg Challenge story.

Once again, last night, WGN’s studio lines in Chicago were bombarded when NRO journalist, Freddie Freddoso, author of The Case Against Barack Obama, appeared on Milt Rosenberg’s show.

From the NRO Media Blog:

During the August fiasco, outraged pro-Obama callers fumed that WGN had offered Kurtz an unchallenged forum, despite the fact that Team Obama had declined an invitation to appear alongside Kurtz for the duration of the program. This time, however, Freddoso was actually paired up with an Obama-supporting counterpart. This wasn’t good enough for the Obama thought police, who blasted out marching orders to shut down the discussion. Once again, the phones melted down. The Obama campaign should be proud.

As with Mr Kurtz, The Obama campaign goes comically overboard in its attempt to demonize Freddoso:

According to the Obama Action Wire email, he peddles “baseless lies,” engages in “dishonest, extreme hate mongering,” and has made a career out of “vicious partisan attacks.” The email urges supporters to call in and “confront” Freddoso before “this goes any further.” They’re also encouraged to report back the details of their phone calls through a special dedicated page on Obama’s website.

The email even boasts about the success of a previous blitz on free speech:

A couple weeks ago, we asked you to call into Rosenberg’s radio show when he hosted unapologetic smear artist Stanley Kurtz’ incoherent rantings (?!)  about Barack and William Ayers.

And you responded. Rosenberg’s producer said the flood of calls and emails the show received was the biggest response ever for something like this.

This would be funny, if it weren’t so serious. If this is how Obama handles dissent now, what will he be like if he actually gains the reins of power?

Ed Morrissey asks:

Where is the rest of the media on this?  It’s the second time in three weeks that the campaign itself has organized a brute squad to intimidate journalists into silence.  This kind of insane, hysterical reaction to criticism is apparently what we can expect from an Obama administration, and the rest of the media seems content to allow it.

Where’s the rest of the media?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

Meanwhile, as Ace has discovered, Obama has other uses for his eager and willing minions.:

David Axelrod is called the “Master of Astroturfing.” Astroturfing is the dishonest PR technique of inserting PR messages straight from the PR shop out into the public, but in the guise of “concerns” of “real citizens” who are “independent” and have “no relationship” whatsoever to the PR campaign.

It tries to disguise itself as a “grassroots” phenomenon — but it’s artificial and inorganic. Hence, “Astroturf.”

And David Axelrod is notorious for making extensive use of this controversial tactic — and was notorious for it even before he begain running Barack Obama’s campaign.

Axelrod is working his astroturf magic by seeding comments throughout the internet containing his talking points. His new technique is to have the pro-Obama, anti-McCain/Palin talking points coming, supposedly, from “Christians” or “lifelong Republicans.”

These “astroturfers”, also known as “mobies” are spreading throughout the rightwing blogosphere like cockroaches, and are usually very easy to spot. Here is the basic formula as described by Ace:

The script–

1. The Pledge: I’m a conservative/I’m a Christian/I’m a conservative Christian

2. The Turn: My heart is with you guys, really… but I have these concerns…

3. The Prestige: I hear all these great things about Obama and/or did you hear this horrible stuff about Palin?

And of course the simple whitebread, just-plain-folks psuedonym.

Be on the lookout for these maroons, like I said they’re easy to spot, but your first impulse is to take them seriously, because they are always polite.

Best defense? Point, and laugh.

UPDATE (Sept. 17):

Another example of out of control Obama Brigades trying to stifle free speech.