"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host conservative radio host Chris Plante Friday morning, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Every time I think this woman has scraped the barrel of dumb, she manages to surprise me. Is she really so ignorant of US law that she does not know that the constitution applies to what federal government can (and in the case of the bill of rights, can not) do and has no bearing at all on the behavior of the mainstream media?

Does she really believe that the first amendment protects her from criticism? Is she implying that the government--under the auspices of protecting her 1st amendment rights--has some responsibility to step in and protect her from criticism?

And this is the woman John McCain believes is qualified for the vice-presidency?

Shame on both of them.