Guess what? A President has free political speech too!

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Robert Pratt

“We need an independent media to hold people like me to account,” George W. Bush told NBC’s Matt Lauer. “Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power,” the former President said.

“Bush was asked about the media’s role in light of President Donald Trump’s recent characterization of the media as the “enemy of the American people.” He noted he spent a lot of time during his two terms trying to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to embrace an independent press,” the TODAY show reported.

One might respond by pointing out that an “independent press” is quite different from one which acts as an arm of a political party or political movement. One could easily argue that some of the manipulative media in the USA works just as does Putin’s media in a political sense.

…when an elected officeholder engages in freedom of speech such is simply the practice of free speech, even if such is critical of other speakers such as those in the press.

Remember, free speech applies to all sides. When government abridges freedom of the press and political speech such is a gross violation. But, when an elected officeholder engages in freedom of speech such is simply the practice of free speech, even if such is critical of other speakers such as those in the press.

Don’t fall for the false argument that Trump criticizing the press is the same as government action to censor the press.

Obama was highly critical of some members of the press including calling out some by name yet such wasn’t presented as a threat to the nation. Neither was his taking most questions from politically friendly members of the press and avoiding enemies. (The same could be demonstrated for Bill Clinton.)

A president has free political speech too, that’s why it is said he has a “bully pulpit.”

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