So Much For Freedom of the Press

Twice Bill Clinton raised his right hand and swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Included therein is the First Amendment with its guarantees of freedom of the press. Based on his comments in Pakistan, he never really bought into that whole press freedom thing:

Former President Bill Clinton today called for the conviction of European papers that published satirical cartoons of Muhammad, according to reports in the Islamic press and elsewhere.

Clinton condemned the publication of the caricatures by European newspapers and urged countries concerned to convict the publishers, according to the reports.

He said religious convictions of the people should be respected at all costs and no media should be allowed to play with the religious sentiments of people of any faith.

"I strongly disagree with the creation and publication of cartoons that are considered blasphemous by the Muslims around the world," he said. "I thought it was a mistake."

Will there be any criticism of Clinton in the U.S. press for the suggestions that publishers be convicted of crimes if they publish unpopular material? Probably not. They'll probably ignore it just as they've ignored Al Gore's treasonous comments in Saudi Arabia. Bill and Al must be getting paid by the pander.

And press freedoms are now under attack in the U.S. thanks to the Mohammed cartoons (h/t Little Green Footballs):

GALLUP (NM) — Someone shattered The Independent’s glass entrance doors late Wednesday.

At about 10 p.m., an unknown individual threw a pair of fist-sized rocks at the doors, which caused the glass to shatter but not break. The rocks were covered in black marker with the phrases “public apology or else?” “think twice” and “repent, condemn or else?”

The vandalism occurred the same day of the newspaper’s publication of two cartoons that portray the prophet Mohammed. The cartoons’ initial publication in a midsize Danish newspaper fueled protests that have spread worldwide. The cartoons have since been published in at least a dozen newspapers.

However, no evidence has been recovered proving the incident was in retaliation for the publication of the cartoons or was done by a member of the local Arab community.

Of course not. It was probably done by a nice Jewish boy.

There were also new deaths in Libya and other Muslim hellholes around the world as the humorless Islamic world continued to hyperventilate over the cartoons. This isn't going away anytime soon, and having morons like Slick Willie encouraging the suspension of a free press doesn't help.