Dick Morris: Obama, Democrats Want Control of Internet Speech

Not content with the total bias and domination of the news networks, CNN, and the nation's leading newspapers, the Democrats on the Federal Election Commission have moved to assert federal control over Internet political speech. Claiming the authority to regulate political postings and blogs as independent campaign expenditures, they want to apply federal campaign finance laws to online voices.

According to the Washington Examiner, the three Democrats on the FEC moved at the Oct. 24 meeting to impose "burdensome new rules on Internet-based campaigning."

The three Republican members on the commission beat back the measure, warning the proposal would regulate "online political sites and even news media like the Drudge Report."

Saying that "a re-examination of the commission's approach to the Internet and other emerging technologies is long overdue," Ann M. Ravel, the Democratic vice-chair of the FEC, said she would begin a campaign for Internet regulation.


FEC Chairman Republican Lee E. Goodman said that such regulation would cover "anybody who writes a political blog, runs a politically active news site, or even [a] chat room."

Obama's real goal is to allocate total political power to the left wing of the Democratic Party. The domination of the news media by the left goes a long way toward accomplishing this goal. But the Internet has remained an outlier, an area of protected free speech beyond administration control.

Now the Democrats are signaling their intention to impose heavy-handed federal regulations and reporting requirements for anyone who speaks out online.

Ignoring the distinction between groups that buy political advertising and those that speak out without paying for coverage, the Democrats on the FEC want to treat any speech about politics as an activity subject to their regulation and control. This is a dangerous assertion of power and we must do all we can to fight it.

Bravo for the three Republican members of the Commission!