COMMON SENSE - AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  Frank Miele is a transplanted Easterner who now enjoys the wide-open spaces of Montana.  He writes some of the best commentary on the web.  Consider:

Rush Limbaugh has been criticized for saying he hopes the president fails in his efforts to reshape the economy, most recently in this newspaper by columnist Ellen Goodman, who called Limbaugh "a talk radio host who'd rather be (far) right than have his country rescued."

This kind of twisted commentary is what makes one pessimistic about the future of the country. How exactly did Ellen Goodman miss the news that Rush Limbaugh is a conservative and Barack Obama is a liberal (oops, I almost said socialist)? Is there really any logical reason why Limbaugh WOULD support Obama? Does anyone remember liberals like Al Franken and Nancy Pelosi supporting President Bush when he was trying to ensure victory in Iraq?...

...But when liberals are in power, criticism of the government is virtually a crime against the state.

COMMENT:  Miele is entirely correct.  My great fear is that some "liberals," and they really aren't liberal, would like to punish the heresy in very serious ways.  Examine what some "liberals" have done on a number of college campuses, where speech codes restrict what students can say.  Our kids are learning that these restrictions are perfectly okay, and they will take that lesson to the larger society.

Read the rest of Miele's column.  It's superb.

March 8,  2009