Jason Mattera Complains About Nonexistent Censorship

Following her racially charged rant last month, Dr. Laura Schlesinger announced her retirement from radio, saying that she wanted to "regain" her "First Amendment rights." The suggestion that Schlesinger's rights had been violated was as outrageous as the rant itself; she was free to say whatever she wanted, just as her critics were free to take issue with the spirit of her comments.  Nonetheless, many conservatives jumped to defend her.  Sarah Palin, for instance, tweeted that Schlesinger's "1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist."

Along similar lines, Human Events editor Jason Mattera sent an email to subscribers today warning that President Obama and liberals will use "government-enforced speech control" to silence conservatives and maintain power.  (Note: the email is not available online, but it links to this page.)  He also contended that "blatant thought and speech control" is already happening in America.  Amazingly, however, this "insidious form of censorship" hasn't kept the loudmouthed Mattera from continually insulting liberals with ugly attacks:

• In a column attacking then-Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, Mattera asked readers to imagine Kagan "grinding" in basketball shorts and mocked her "toilet preference," declaring that "we shouldn't judge her fidelity to the Constitution because she happens to sit and not stand while urinating" (this sentence has been changed on the website).  He also suggested that Justice Stephen Breyer uses tampons. 

• Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, Mattera told the audience: "[O]ur notion of freedom doesn't consist of snorting cocaine...which is certainly one thing that separates us from Barack Obama."

• Last September, in a speech at the Values Voters Summit, Mattera said that conservative women are "hot" and denigrated MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's appearance. "We have Michelle Malkin," he said. "Who does the left have, Rachel Maddow? Sorry I prefer that my women not look like dudes."

Those are just a few examples of the near-constant stream of vitriol that Mattera spews on a daily basis.  Obviously, he has every right to express his political views however he wants to without breaking the law.  And progressives have the same right to call attention to his attacks and argue that such behavior hurts our discourse — but doing so doesn't amount to "thought and speech control."

Ironically, when he worked at the Young America's Foundation, Mattera barred progressive journalists from covering the organization's conference.  When a reporter from Campus Progress asked why he was being kicked out, Mattera replied, "Because I said so." "It's censorship," he admitted.