[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25444]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FREEDOM OF SPEECH

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. You know, the American people cherish our freedom of 
speech and a free and independent press. That's why I found this 
morning's headlines so troubling.
  Goaded on by a White House increasingly intolerant of criticism, 
lately the national media has taken aim at conservative commentators in 
radio and television, suggesting that they only speak for a small group 
of activists, and even suggests in one report today that Republicans in 
Washington are ``worried about their electoral effect.'' Well, that's 
hogwash.
  To suggest the men and women that are taking a stand for fiscal 
discipline and traditional values in the national debate today only 
speak for ``grassroots activists'' is absurd. As evidenced by the 
hundreds of thousands who filled town hall meetings this summer and the 
nearly million Americans that gathered here in Washington in September, 
millions of American, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, are 
worried about liberal social policies and runaway Federal spending, 
deficit, and debt.
  So, to my friends in the so-called mainstream media, I say, 
conservative talk show hosts may not speak for everybody, but they 
speak for more Americans than you do.

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