Limbaugh to Obama: Don't Touch Talk Radio

Following suit with some Dems would mean violating free speech
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 20, 2009 7:45 AM CST
Limbaugh to Obama: Don't Touch Talk Radio
In this Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 file photo, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh talks with former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, left, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

There’s been talk among Democrats that government should intervene to ensure balance in talk radio. But government weighing in on content is a direct violation of the First Amendment, writes Rush Limbaugh in the Wall Street Journal, and as a former law prof, our new president knows that. President Obama has spoken against Limbaugh's show, the radio host says; he'd better not support an intervention in the name of “fairness."

“The fact that the federal government issues broadcast licenses ought not become an excuse to destroy one of the most accessible and popular marketplaces of expression,” Limbaugh writes in an open letter to the president. “As the temporary custodian of your office, you should agree that the Constitution is more important than scoring transient political victories, even when couched in the language of public interest.”
(More Rush Limbaugh stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X