A constant droning mantra of the far left: they’re being censored, their speech shut down, by the dread power of … gasp! … evil right-wing disapproval. Steven Zak shuts down some more of their free speech in this op-ed for the Washington Times: ‘Censorship’ whining.

But “fear of reprisal” — read: of criticism — is everywhere among the left, including even major media players. Paul Krugman, a columnist for the New York Times, frets that after September 11 “if you were thinking of saying anything negative about the president, you had to expect right-wing pundits and publications to do all they could to ruin your reputation.” CNN’s Christiane Amanpour believes that the press has been “intimidated by the administration.” And Dan Rather of CBS — check out this metaphor — worries about having “a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck.”

Treating counterargument as a threat to freedom would be laughable if it weren’t so insane. So would the whole “Bush lied” mantra, which is merely an attempt to avoid even acknowledging an opposing viewpoint. Rather than stand up and confront your opponents with reason, how much easier it is to just dismiss them as liars — or worse. Thus Al Gore calls supporters of the president Nazi brownshirts. The left-wing extremist group MoveOn.org posts videos equating President Bush with Hitler. And [LA Times writer] Tim Rutten none too subtly juxtaposes Rush Limbaugh and Depression-era pro-Nazi radio priest Father Charles Coughlin.

Liberals apparently are tolerant enough to respect a dictator’s right to fill mass graves with children. They just can’t countenance anyone with contrary political views.

And they moan about “fascist Amerikkka” and the crushing of dissent while staging vile scenes like this, at the Democratic National Convention: