Palin Feels Media Criticism Threaten Her First Amendment Rights

Excerpt: In a radio interview given Friday morning in Washington DC, the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said he feared that their First Amendment rights could be threatened by "attacks" from journalists.

In a radio interview given Friday morning in Washington DC, the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said he feared that their First Amendment rights could be threatened by "attacks" of journalists. What we propose is in itself a negative campaign against Barack Obama.

Palin told WMAL-AM that his criticism of the associations of Obama in the 1960s with the radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be regarded as negative attacks. On the contrary, such a suggestion from journalists or columnists would be putting at risk their constitutional rights to freedom of expression.

ABC News' Steven Portnoy reports: In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by "attacks" from reporters who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Barack Obama.

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate's free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

However she feels about the way her story has been told in the press, Palin told WMAL she is not discouraged.

"It's sort of perplexing to me, because I'm a practical person and plainspoken also, but just cutting to the chase and calling things like I see them, just like most Americans. But this has not left a bitter taste in my mouth, the bitter shots taken by the mainstream media and by some of the elitism there in Washington," Palin said.

"What this has left me with is a very energized and positive feeling about America, because there are enough Americans who are desiring the positive change that John McCain's gonna usher in."

Plante then suggested that in her next sit-down interview, Palin should tap the reporter on the knee and ask, "So who you votin' for?"

Palin laughed and said, "Yeah, maybe that just would say it all."

"I'm gonna try that," she said.

Original article can be found at ABC News