Having a negative opinion of a politician is perfectly normal.

Expressing a negative opinion about a public figure is perfectly legal.

Conducting a political lynching like 6 federal lawyers did in the rigged trial of Ted Stevens is illegal. These people should do serious prison time.

Using the IRS to scare politicians and public figures is illegal. While Clinton was president, 80% of the Top 100 "conservative talk show hosts" were audited by the IRS at the request of Bill Clinton.

When Bill O'Reilly was audited for the fourth consecutive year, he "called-out" Bill Clinton personally. Clinton cancelled the fourth audit.

We are not talking about a few negative words aimed at Sarah Palin, we are taling about trumped-up criminal charges being leveled 15 times forcing a good person and her husband to spend 1/2 million dollars to defend themselves.

I'm not saying that Sarah Palin is "the best or the brightest". I am saying that "the best and the brightest" do not go into politics anymore because they will face relentless harassment and character assasination like Newt Gingroch, Sarah Palin, Tom DeLay, Tom Ridge, Don Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft did.