The Party of Censorship?

I just got this press release in my inbox at work:

URGENT

DFL TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE TODAY; WILL CALL ON OTHER MINNESOTA TV STATIONS TO FOLLOW SUIT ON KSTP TV'S DECISION TO NOT AIR ADVERTISEMENT

ST. PAUL (2/16/06) - The Minnesota DFL Party will be holding a news conference today at 3:15 p.m. (immediately following Sen. Steve Kelly's news conference) Room 125 in the State Capitol.

The DFL will call on other Minnesota TV stations to follow KSTP-TV's decision NOT to run the divisive "Midwest Heroes" advertisements.

Unbelievable. If you are not familiar, the "Midwest Heroes" ads are soldiers and their families expressing support for the war in Iraq.

Aren't we told that because Cindy Sheehan is a military mom, she is above criticism? That her words count for more than others?

Why doesn't that apply in this case?

Obviously it is more important to Minnesota Democrats to silence opposing viewpoints than it is to hear from the soldiers and families fighting the war.

This is an insult to free speech and a black eye for Minnesota. How embarrassing.

UPDATE: To their credit, at leasts two of the major news stations in Minnesota, KARE 11 and WCCO, have stated they have no intention of removing the ad from programming. I'm sure the rest will follow suit.

In fact, according to KARE 11, the above press release doesn't accurately describe KSTP's position. They have been running the ad in out state markets all along.

Here is a link to the ad.

How tacky that, on a day dominated by the news of a fallen Minnesota soldier, the state Democratic Party advocates removing soldiers' voices from the airwaves.

State Democrats are in much better shape than their national counterparts. And, there are certainly enough state issues to focus their attention. Why they would want to associate themselves with the national party's dismal national security track record and attack the one group of people with experience in Iraq is beyond me.

They could certainly have financed their own ad, or released a statement with their point of view, pointing out perceived factual errors. Instead, they call a press conference to beg television stations to pull ads they find damaging to their future election prospects.

If soldiers expressing their opinions about the war in Iraq is so damaging to their elections hopes, perhaps the state Democratic Party is in worse shape than I thought.

UPDATE: MDE has all kinds of coverage of today's effort to quash free speech, including this quote from Tim Walz:

"Freedom of speech has its limitations on this, and that that is one of them, that is you cannot just say whatever you think."

And the response from Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey, including this quote:

"Regardless of one's politics, those who have worn the uniform deserve to have their voices heard in the public square."

I couldn't agree more.