Dems Threaten Anti-Iran Rally Organizers With IRS Attack if They Let Palin Speak

September 23, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Foreign Policy, GOP, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston |

-By Warner Todd Huston

News has emerged that the organizers of that anti-Iran rally that famously got snarled up in Senator Hillary Clinton’s ire at Governor Sarah Palin last week were threatened by New York Democrats with IRS action against their tax-exempt status if they allowed Palin to speak. CBS local NY news reported this little fact and so did NBC but most of the national news has ignored this outrageous threat to use the IRS to silence Governor Palin.

Accusing New York Democrats of using “McCarthyism” to shut Palin down, Democrat Assemblyman Dov Hikind was flabbergasted by the behind the scenes threats against the rally organizers. “It’s an absolute shame that this has happened,” CBS quoted Hikind as saying. “To threaten organizations … to threaten the Conference of Presidents that if you don’t withdraw the invitation to Gov. Palin we’re going to look into your tax exempt status … that’s McCarthyism.”

The charge was that inviting only Palin and not also Democrat VP candidate Joe Biden is somehow a violation of “equal representation of candidates” (As NBC claimed in its report). But, this is not a certainty. After all, the appearance wasn’t a campaign stop nor was it a venue to advertise Palin or engage in presidential politics. Besides, as HotAir notes, of the political speakers that were invited to speak last year, few were Republicans.

The real story here, though, is that Democrats immediately leapt to using the IRS as a weapon against the rally organizers. Along with the attacks on talk radio host Milt Rosenberg (here and here) it is becoming clear that Democrats are not interested in free speech, but will turn to threats and attacks to get their way to silence dissenting views or opposing party representatives.

It should be remembered that this rally was a pro-Israel rally meant to highlight the oppression and evil of Iran and its president Ahmadinejad. This was NOT a forum for American politics, but a show of support for Israel. Additionally, how is it this organization’s fault that Hillary canceled her appearance? After all, the rally folks did invite Hillary and Palin. It isn’t their fault that Hillary didn’t have the guts to show!

It would seem to me that the news of a political party trying to use the IRS to shut down their opponents would be somewhat newsworthy? Yet, we haven’t heard this story on the national scene at all. Would we have heard about it if it were Republicans trying to use threats of the IRS in such a manner?

What do you think?

(H/T HotAir.com and Allahpundit)

(Photo credit: kcbs.com)

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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston