It seems that free speech is cherished by liberals only when it allows them to say what they wish to say. When the opinions expressed are of a sort they find unpalatable then calls for censorship go out across the land:
Two New Jersey Democrats are pushing to have Ann Coulter's new book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," banned from all bookstores in their state because she criticized four 9/11 widows known as "the Jersey Girls."
In a joint press release issued Friday, New Jersey Assemblywomen Joan Quigley and Linda Stender say they want New Jersey retailers to "ban the sale of [Coulter's] book throughout the state."
"Ann Coulter's criticism of 9-11 widows, whose only desire since the attacks have been to repair their shattered lives and protect other families from the horrors they have experienced, is motivated purely by petty greed and hate," the two Democrats complained.
"Coulter's vicious characterizations and remarks are motivated by greed and her desire to sell books . . . She is a leech trying to turn a profit off perverting the suffering of others."
Quigley and Stender conclude:
"No one in New Jersey should buy this book and allow Ann Coulter to profit from her hate-mongering. We are asking New Jersey retailers statewide to stand with us and express their outrage by refusing to carry or sell copies of Coulter's book. Her hate-filled attacks on our 9-11 widows has no place on New Jersey bookshelves."
It used to be liberals who would insist, in self-righteous accents, that though they may despise what their opponents say, they'd "fight to the death" for their right to say it. That was back when liberals were campaigning to use profanity and pornography on our television shows, movies, and music, and the hazard of actually having to risk one's life was vanishingly remote.
Now that Muslims are actually killing people who utter offensive things about their religion and now that some conservatives are expressing unpleasant sentiments about liberal heroines, we haven't heard that slogan much. The sunshine soldiers who claimed to be prepared to stake their lives in defense of free speech seem to have melted away into the country-side and given way to liberal appeasers and book-banners.