Right wing has First Amendment rights too

(This letter to the Editor appeared in the Mesa (Arizona) Tribune a few years ago)

Right wing has First Amendment rights too

This letter is in response to James Kimes’ letter decrying what he sees as the takeover of talk radio by the right wing.
Partisan complaints about bad treatment in the press are not new to the presidency and ring quite hollow when you look at the partisan sniping presidents have had to endure throughout history.
The majority (57 percent) of the electorate in the last election voted against President Clinton and his proposed policies, so why is it surprising to the minority who voted for him that there would be vocal opposition to his social and economic re-engineering.
I am sorry if left-wing whiners have a problem with right-wing radicals turning to talk radio as a forum for their message. However, if there was not a significant segment of the population turning in to listen then the shows would go off the air. For example, Rush Limbaugh is still here but where is G. Gordon Liddy? That is the beauty of capitalism.

There are many examples outlining the perceived inequities concerning press coverage of this president. How much coverage would the press have given to Reagan or Bush if they had told a racist joke and how much was given to President Clinton when he used a racist joke in front of a room full of reporters?
More recently, where is the hue and cry over Donna Shalala saying exactly the same thing as Dan Qauyle did about single parents?
Until the mainstream press can adequately address the perception (real or imagined) that many people have concerning their “balanced” coverage of an issue when reporting the “news,” we will continue to see groups using whatever means they can to get their message out. That is the beauty of the First Amendment.

David Riddle
Mesa