But wasn't Martin Bashir exercising his free speech.

[edhopper]

or Bill Maher, or any of the other people who said things THEY don't like.
But a redneck bigoted homophobe says something vile and it's hands off.

[jessie04]

1. Nailed !!!

[Capt. Obvious]

2. Phil Donahue

[Capt. Obvious]

3. Dixie Chicks

[FredisDead]

4. I noticed that the

Conservatives had no Issue with MSNBC when they fired Alec Baldwin for calling a photographer a c#ck sucking fag.

[edhopper]

5. I don't have the time to research it

But somebody should do a graphic of all the media people the Right have wanted silenced and put them next to Duckwad Dipshit.

[Gothmog]

6. The First Amendment only applies to State Actors

Unless there is a governmental entity involved in the censorship decision, the First Amendment does not apply. The First Amendment only applies to censorship done by a federal, state or local governmental entity and does not apply to private parties such TV networks. This is basic constitutional law.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. Yeppers!

[Drunken Irishman]

8. Alec Baldwin too - don't remember the right rallying around his bigoted comments.

[mr_liberal]

9. Yes, they all were.

None of them should be fired.

[kelly1mm]

10. neither of them were. 1st amendment prohibitions are on the GOVERNMENT censoring/punishing

speech, not a private company/organization/person.

[Gothmog]

11. 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.

[edhopper]

12. Sorry I didn't put

the "sarcasm" thingy on.
We understand this is not free speech. it's mocking what the Repugs are saying about it.