Stumbled onto this recently, from HotAir. Here's an excerpt:

This would be great satire, except that California’s Speaker of the Assembly, Karen Bass, was foolish enough to say it — and believe it. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bass responded to a question about conservative talk radio by calling show hosts terrorists, and openly wondering why we allow people to call politicians and give their opinions (via The Corner):

How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature’s work?

The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: “You vote for revenue and your career is over.” I don’t know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it’s about free speech, but it’s extremely unfair.

There’s a lot of stupidity and tyranny locked into those few words. The First Amendment guarantees the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, even apart from the “free speech” issues Bass casually discards. Elected politicians are accountable to the people who elect them in a free society.

...

Beware the politicians who consider dissent terrorism. They’re either idiotic beyond belief, or tyrants waiting for an opportunity. Bass might just be both.

Why is it that liberals can't bring themselves to use the "t" word (terrorism) when describing actual known terrorists ("man-caused disaster" sounds so much more pleasant, no?) but they have no problem describing law-abiding citizens who dare to voice their opinions to the politicians THEY elected to represent them as "terrorists." She bemoans that people's jobs are threatened if they vote a certain way. Well, if the majority of the people who put you in office disagree with how you conduct yourself in office, then they should vote you out of office. That's how democracy works!

During the Bush years, liberals loved to remind everyone that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism." And they were right on that point, although IMO some of them crossed the line from "dissent" to actively undermining America's interests at home and abroad. Now that their beloved leader is now in office though, they are quickly rebranding dissent - simply voicing an opposing opinion to the administration's policies - as "terrorism" or even "treason."

The hypocrisy and stupidity here is mind-numbing, and the trend to increasingly label anyone who disagrees with the government as an "extremist," "terrorist," or "traitor" is very, very dangerous. It should be seen as a threat to the freedom not only of conservatives but of all Americans.

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As a side note, I just have to take issue with Ms. Bass' terminology "voting for revenue." "Revenue" is money that is EARNED for providing goods or services. What Ms. Bass is talking about is not revenue, it's TAXES and yes, if you're voting to increase taxes on your constituents, you better be ready for some complaints. Especially when you've been spending a large portion of your already-bloated budget on stupid and wasteful things. Don't waste the taxpayers' money and then get all defensive when they aren't eager to give you even MORE of their hard-earned dollars to make up for your overspending in the first place! How about do what every other American has to do when they don't have enough money - cut spending!!

Posted on Tuesday, July 14, 2009