Sarah Palin weighs in on Duck Dynasty.

[JaneyVee]

"Free speech is endangered species; those "intolerants" hatin' & taking on Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing personal opinion take on us all"

https://mobile.twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/413487351579418624?screen_name=SarahPalinUSA

LOL

[bigwillq]

1. I really don't mind what he said.

It's his opinion; he's free to say what he wants.
However, I also feel the network is free to do whatever they feel is necessary to the talent that represents their network.
I support the network in its decision and I don't feel it's a violation of free speech.

[yeoman6987]

4. I agree

Why is it that he can use his free speech (which he is certainly free to do), but the network is not allowed too use their free speech to show him the door? Nobody is saying he couldn't say what he said. However, the network can disagree with his words and discontinue his time on the show.

[JaneyVee]

5. Funny thing is that no one really cares about what he said, but she always

Has to play the victim. She's acting as if there is some war on free speech because some people act negatively to his ignorant comments. If you dish it, prepare to get served.

[rurallib]

10. always told my kids you can say whatever you want

but you better understand that there may be consequences.

[bigwillq]

15. Good advice!

[LisaLynne]

35. That is something way too many people don't seem to get.

Great advice.

[WCGreen]

51. Excellent...

My mother said the same thing to me.

Which is why she did not punish me when I was suspended for organizing a walk-out at my Middle School on the second anniversary of the Kent State Tragedy.

[Arkansas Granny]

16. I tried to point this out to a guy this morning who was whining about losing free speech.

Phil Robertson is free to say whatever he likes and his free speech will be protected even if it's wrong and hateful, just like any other person in this country. However, if the network that is paying him thinks that the speech of one of their "stars" is going to cause them to lose viewers and/or advertising $$$, they can put him on the sidelines. It's a business decision, not a free speech decision.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

46. And don't forget about the retail $$$...

Duck Dynasty's Brand Bonanza: How A&E (And Walmart) Turned Camo Into $400 Million Merchandise Sales
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/11/06/duck-dynastys-brand-bonanza-how-ae-and-walmart-turned-camo-into-400-million-merchandise-sales/

Big bucks are on the line.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Inbreds seem to stick together,

whether it's in the far north or deep south.

[spanone]

3. hate speech sarah, hate

[liberal N proud]

6. Hate is not free speech

Hate speech is not free speech
Hate is not free

[earthside]

31. Actually, it is.

Unless you are just speaking metaphorically.

We should be grateful in a quirky kind of way that our right to free speech makes it so easy to identify the bigots, racists and haters.

Indeed, however, this Duck fellow is finding out that truly 'hate is not free' ... there are consequences for using freedom of speech to voice intolerance.

Remembering the Nazis in Skokie - Geoffrey R. Stone; HuffingtonPost.com; April 19, 2009

The outcome of the Skokie controversy was one of the truly great victories for the First Amendment in American history. It proved that the rule of law must and can prevail. Because of our profound commitment to the principle of free expression even in the excruciatingly painful circumstances of Skokie more than thirty years ago, we remain today the international symbol of free speech. (Ultimately, a deal was worked out and the Nazis agreed to march in Chicago rather than in Skokie.)

[packman]

7. Too many of these type of shows

- its becoming like a circus side show. In one tent view the guys making moonshine, in another the loggers killing themselves, in another a guy that cleans vermin out of your cellar, in yet another see a group bidding on crap in lockers, and over her some idiots ripping up the Alaskan landscape looking for a few ounces of gold, etc., etc.

I pine for the days of Matt Dillion, Miami Vice, Ricky and Lucy.

[Botany]

14. I call it dumb fuck TV

You forgot people making, selling, and shooting guns or somebody who just has to have
his car rebuilt by tomorrow and the drive train will not match up to the engine.

[Botany]

8. Palin goes full metal illiterate with her tweet on Duck Dynasty

100% gibberish

[JaneyVee]

9. Queen of word salads.

[SummerSnow]

26. Just her way of trying to stay in the news

[SomethingFishy]

11. So his "personal opinion" is "free speech" but people's opinion of him

is "intolerance and hatin" got it...

[JaneyVee]

12. Exactly. Always the victim.

[SammyWinstonJack]

49. And his "personal opinion" of intolerance and hatin' isn't in any way JUDGMENT!

[marmar]

13. Take on us all? ....... Is the Wasilla Wolf Killa appointing herself leader of a revolution?

As Bill Maher says, she's proof that we're building the fence on the wrong border.

[dembotoz]

17. the duck guy is an employee of the network

the rules that would apply to a cashier at McDonalds must in some way apply to him too

[Maeve]

18. Free Speech is not "consequence-free speech"

Free speech means you won't get locked up for saying stuff (with some exceptions--threatening folks is still illegal). But it doesn't mean you won't lose your job, your friends or your spouse if you say really STUPID or biased stuff.

[hatrack]

20. Yes, it's amazing how many people miss that little distinction . . .

Palin = ing up words and then playing with them.

[warrior1]

19. who asked her what she thinks

She always butts in to stories to make it about her.

[workinclasszero]

21. He is free to say any idiot thing he wants

And his employer is free to fire him for it as well, just as my employer can and will fire me for doing and saying things that reflect badly on them.

Sarah Palin fails yet again, some things never change.

The government in no way censored the intellectual giants on Duck Dynasty spouting their reich wing garbage.

The gay haters that want a government agent in every bedroom in Merrica to make sure consenting adults are only doin it the approved Fox "news" way are the fans of censorship, oppression and fascism, Sarah..oh and seig heil teabaggers.

[Mike Daniels]

22. Amazing that someone that ignorant of what the First Amendment really says

got elected as governor of Alaska and was tapped to be the VP candidate for the GOP.

I can see the twit getting elected as mayor of Wasilla on looks alone since from what I've heard it was effectively a part-time job anyway.

[Gothmog]

23. The First Amendment only applies to state actors

Palin has no idea as to how the constitution works

[Tom Rinaldo]

24. Pure Palin

Objecting to hate and intolerance makes one hating and intolerant.

As an aside, she also shows off her pretentious false populism by typing out hatin' rather than hating. Same number of key strokes used to emphasize her manufactured folksy appeal as would be needed to just spell it correctly. It's not like she's writing a novel using idiom dialect a la Huckleberry Finn here. Peel it back and it's really a slap at those she's trying so hard to identify with; oh look, she's capable of using the vernacular, just like the unwashed masses she makes such a good living off of.

[yellowcanine]

29. Hatin' is for folksiness, yes, and also for the sound bite catchiness.

Kind of line Orrin Hatch's constant use of "the President deserves an UPPERDOWN vote on his nominees!"
(Of course it no longer applies now that the President is a Democrat)

Politicians fashion their statements to be good sound bite material.

[Tom Rinaldo]

34. Yes, but there is no sound for a sound bite on Twitter; which makes it ham fisted fake

Some people actually talk naturally in a way others consider folksy, and politicians copy that to appear that way too. Some say hatin', sure. But no grass roots types normally spell out hating with an apostrophe replacing the "g". I suppose a few might actually spell out hating as hatin, but hatin' - nope

[Ikonoklast]

41. I wonder if people realize that some staffer does this type of stuff for Palin.

Palin herself couldn't be bothered to actually take the time time to twitter, or blog, or write anything whatsoever herself, she has flunkies doing all that for her.

[Tom Rinaldo]

43. Sure. But s/he is turning out stuff Palin approves of putting out there....

...and that staffer and or staffers is pretty consistent on style.

[Ikonoklast]

44. Which just proves that some people will do anything for money.

How soul-killing must that job be?

[Tom Rinaldo]

45. Ouch. It hurts just to think about that. n/t

[Mike Daniels]

25. Someone should ask Sarah if the Dixie Chicks had their "free speech" violated.

Even though the situation is the same (private company punishing someone for voicing an opinion that was potentially offensive to their customers/audience) I bet Sarah and the rest of the Tea Party lemmings would find a way to say it's different.

[Bjorn Against]

32. Or Martin Bashir, just last week she was celebrating his firing

[AzDar]

52. ^ This.

Ugh. The hypocrisy ...

[yellowcanine]

27. What other kind of opinion is there than a "personal opinion"???? And if you voice an opinion,

others have just as much right to rebut that opinion as you do to voice it in the first place.

[HereSince1628]

42. Well, there are informed opinions, scholarly opinions, expert opinions, etc.

Getting beyond uninformed, street-informed, and propagandized information based opinion is one of the basic tasks given to instructors of undergraduates.

Because undergraduates share with most Americans a very high value on 'personal opinion' they are constantly slipping back into it, when their college projects, and hence their college grades, depend on something much more like informed or scholarly opinion.

[hobbit709]

28. and why should anyone give a flying f*ck about anything she says?

Her 15 minutes was up about 5 years ago.

[yellowcanine]

30. Her 15 minutes was up before she even got started. Thanks for that, John McCain.

[CoffeeCat]

33. I'm so SICK of hearing that this is a free-speech issue!

This is NOT a First Amendment issue. This Duck Dynasty guy was never prevented from speaking his opinion or exercising his First Amendment rights. He can say whatever the hell he wants.

He said his comments on a television show. He is an employee of A&E. He has no Constitutional Right to appear indefinitely on a reality program. They can fire him for whatever reason they choose.

Like it or not, Sarah--the majority of Americans do not like homophobic bigotry. We realize that you use your "beliefs" to justify this hate, but most Americans find that repulsive. That's why he was fired. You're too stupid to realize that the world is passing you by and that your views are repugnant, so you turn this into a Free-Speech war.

Idiocy on parade.

[Blue Owl]

36. Pigs before swine

And lipsticked pigs, at that...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

37. Boy can she salad up a one sentence statement.

[shenmue]

38. Her Twitter feed

can make you lose IQ points with every post.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

39. Forming a sentence that makes a lick of sense is also endangered, thanks to you Sarah

[fishwax]

40. those "intolerants" are just voicing their own free speech rights

And Sarah Palin, as usual, is a half-wit.

[Cali_Democrat]

47. You know, I've never even heard of this show before

Of course Palin would defend somebody making bigoted comments.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

48. Tommy Lee Jones weighs in on Sarah Palin and Duck Dynasty.

[Demo_Chris]

50. I opened this thinking it HAD to be a pardy. nt

[Capt. Obvious]

53. Phil is just like Paul Revere

riding around and warning the British that they won't be taking away our loving vaginas.

[HarveyDarkey]

54. Two words Sarah

Martin Bashir

[Major Hogwash]

55. Hahahaha!!!! I'll bet the people in Alaska are so glad that she resigned as Governor.

This is the craziest, stupidest stuff I have seen her spew in a long time . . . almost 2 weeks now!

It's incredible how she screws up the English language.

[Gothmog]

56. Here is a good explanation of the state actor requirement

Here is a brief explanation of this requirement from Cornell Law School http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/state_action_requirement

The state action requirement stems from the fact that the constitutional amendments which protect individual rights (especially the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment) are mostly phrased as prohibitions against government action. For example, the First Amendment states that “[c]ongress shall make no law” infringing upon the freedoms of speech and religion. Because of this requirement, it is impossible for private parties (citizens or corporations) to violate these amendments, and all lawsuits alleging constitutional violations of this type must show how the government (state or federal) was responsible for the violation of their rights. This is referred to as the state action requirement.