When I first heard that Newt Gingrich had said that we had to do whatever was possible to stop terrorism, including forgoing the first amendment, my first thought was "Mr. Newt has lost his freaking mind." I should have known better. Newt Gingrich is one of the very few politicians in this country who has his finger firmly on the American pulse. I should have realized that the left wing dinosaur media had twisted what he said and made it into something else.
Read Newt Gingrich in his own words and entirety here.
I must have hit a nerve.
In New Hampshire last week, at a dinner hosted by the Loeb School honoring our 1st-Amendment rights, I called for a serious debate about the 1st Amendment and how terrorists are abusing our rights -- using them as they once used passenger jets -- to threaten and kill Americans.
Here's part of what I said: "Either before we lose a city, or, if we are truly stupid, after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that use every technology we can find to break up [terrorists'] capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech [protections] and to go after people who want to kill us -- to stop them from recruiting people before they get to reach out and convince young people to destroy their lives while destroying us."
He never said that the First Amendment should be disregarded, he said that it shouldn't be used as a shield to hide behind. BIG FREAKING DIFFERENCE.
The fact is not all speech is permitted under the Constitution. The 1st Amendment does not protect lewd and libelous speech, and it should not -- and cannot in 2006 -- be used as a shield for murderers.
Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy put it best: "With an enemy committed to terrorism, the advocacy of terrorism -- the threats, the words -- are not mere dogma, or even calls to 'action.' They are themselves weapons -- weapons of incitement and intimidation, often as effective in achieving their ends as would be firearms and explosives brandished openly."
My hat is off to Mr. Gingrich for his insight and his intellect, both of which he uses to uphold what we stand for, or CLAIM to stand for, as a nation. a BIG THUMBS DOWN to the dinosaur media for once again twisting someone's words into something other than what was actually said.
Once and always, an American Fighting Man
