Shut Up, They Explained

In an all-too brief appearance on the O'Reilly show last night, Mark Steyn observed that it's all but impossible for a conservative to have a debate with leftists these days because they're far more inclined to want to silence you completely than engage in a friendly (or even a not-so friendly) exchange of ideas, beliefs and opinions.

You'll never guess who concurs with Steyn on this subject--none other than New York Times diva Maureen Dowd:

On Sunday's Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd that polls are showing a "margin of panic" among "Upper West Siders," an "East Coast freakout" about Donald Trump's popularity. Dowd explained that her liberal friends won't read any interviews she does with Trump, that "they would like to censor any stories about Trump and also censor any negative stories about Hillary. They think she should have a total free pass because as she said at that fundraiser recently, I'm the only thing standing between you and the abyss."

Ironically enough, Trump himself has a somewhat iffy grasp on the First Amendment. In a tweet last month he opined that

It is not "freedom of the press" when newspapers and others are allowed to say and write whatever they want even if it is completely false! 

Actually, Mr. Trump, unless what's been said and written is actionable in some way (i.e. it's slanderous or libelous),  it is "freedom of the press." And your tweet doesn't exactly inspire confidence that, if elected, you'd be willing to stand up for free speech and not give in to what sounds like a reflexive urge to curb press freedom.