Comments on: Lawmaker tries to shut up linebacker, cont’d

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 12:06:04 +0000

Cathy>Good question. Thus far, I’ve seen 1) a few Twitter and Facebook comments in the right direction from conservatives who aren’t well known; 2) extensive coverage from libertarian-leaning writers such as Eugene Volokh. But it’s hard to observe a negative. Possibly people like Mike Huckabee or William Bennett have spoken up on radio shows and I just haven’t heard about it.

By: Cathy Young

Cathy Young — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:12:04 +0000

Just curious–HAS there been any commentary on this from conservative bloggers/pundits? the ones who were up in arms over Chik-Fil-A?

By: MILF

MILF — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:51:53 +0000

…and not to end our sentences with adverbs, D.

By: Richard Blaine

Richard Blaine — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 01:48:54 +0000

Tar, feathers…. (w/ a nod & a h/t to the Professor)

By: D

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 22:58:00 +0000

I am disappointed in Del. Burns. We should encourage football players of all positions to speak articulately.

By: robert

robert — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 19:45:47 +0000

Don’t you know? Only owners of Chicken Restaurants have protected free speech rights! Not linebackers.

By: Del. Emmett Burns to Baltimore Ravens: silence that troublesome player - Overlawyered

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:00:10 +0000

[…] letter is accompanied by a peremptory demand for an “immediate response.” And update: following an outcry in which the public overwhelmingly took the player’s side, Del. Burns has backed down. […]

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:48:36 +0000

We can venture a pretty good guess what the answer to that question is, because just a few weeks ago two elected officials did try to shut up Mr. Dan Cathy of Chick-Fil-A, whose views are the opposite of Mr. Ayanbadejo’s. What kind of coverage did we get? A national news story that went on for nearly a week; dozens of talk show hosts denouncing the threat to liberty; a “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day” promoted by Gov. Huckabee and others, and widely talked up in conservative outlets; and much more, until the officials backed down.

Maybe Calvin A found that level of coverage “hysterical.” I didn’t, because the threat to liberty from that kind of official intimidation should concern us a lot. That’s why I devoted numerous posts here and elsewhere to defending Mr. Cathy’s rights, and am equally glad to defend Mr. Ayanbadejo’s rights.

By: Calvin A

Calvin A — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:32:03 +0000

Wonder if we’d get the same hysterical coverage if a lawmaker wrote and asked that a player who supported traditional marriage be shut up? I suspect that the focus, instead, would be on the player’s “antiquated and homophobic” views.