MRC's Bozell: Obama Assault on Conservative Talk Radio Has Begun

President Obama's recent remarks about Rush Limbaugh should make conservatives sit up and take notice. This is just an opening salvo from the new administration in the war to stifle conservative talk radio and could soon be followed by a concerted effort to resurrect the so-called Fairness Doctrine, argues NewsBusters Publisher Brent Bozell in a new press release (audio available here).

Alexandria, VA - President Barack Obama took a shot at conservative talk radio king Rush Limbaugh by warning GOP leaders that "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." This attack came during a meeting on Capitol Hill held to discuss Pres. Obama's hefty $1 trillion stimulus package. One White House official attempted to cushion the jab by alleging that the President was pointing to the fact that "There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats" and that "partisan politics" should not get in the way of accomplishing "very important things."

President of the Media Research Center Brent Bozell doesn't buy it:

Now we know what Barack Obama means by ‘unity' and a nation working ‘as one.' It means it's his far left way and no other way. If he had his way, the President would have us all reading the New York Times and listening to left-wing Air America.  He knows his only opposition to enacting a radical left-wing agenda is conservative talk radio.   

Further, there's something eerie, Big Brother-like in Obama's actions. He will deny it, of course, but this is an attack on Limbaugh's and all conservatives' right to free speech.  He wants to set the stage for the Fairness Doctrine. And he's doing it through character assassination.

I said the day after the election that Rush Limbaugh would become public enemy #1 if the Obama administration had its way. The attack on him personally and on all of conservative talk radio generally has officially begun.