The Redhunter

Item: When the American Issues Project ran political ads calling attention to Obama's extensive ties to Ayers, the Weatherman terrorist who brags about having bombed the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, the Obama campaign pressured the Justice Department to launch an absurd criminal prosecution.

Item: When commentator Stanley Kurtz of the Ethics and Public Policy Center was invited on a Chicago radio program to discuss his investigation of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an "education reform" project in which Obama and Ayers (just "a guy who lives in my neighborhood") collaborated to dole out over $100 million, the Obama campaign issued an Internet action alert. Supporters, armed with the campaign's non-responsive talking points, dutifully flooded the program with calls and emails, protesting Kurtz's appearance and attempting to shout him down.

Item: Both Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, have indicated that an Obama administration would use its control of the Justice Department to prosecute its political opponents, including Bush administration officials responsible for the national security policies put in effect after nearly 3000 Americans were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

Item: There is a troubling report that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Section, top officials of which are Obama contributors, has suggested criminal prosecutions against those they anticipate will engage in voter "intimidation" or "oppression" in an election involving a black candidate. (Memo to my former DOJ colleagues: In a system that presumes innocence even after crimes have undeniably been committed, responsible prosecutors don't assume non-suspects will commit future law violations -- especially when doing so necessarily undermines the First Amendment freedoms those prosecutors solemnly swear to uphold.)

As a former federal prosecutor himself, indeed the one who prosecuted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing masterminds, McCarthy knows what he's talking about.

But wait, it gets better

Michelle Malkin links to the American Issues Project, which reports that

Barack Obama is now using local law enforcement officials to carry out his campaign of legal intimidation by assembling a group of high-ranking Missouri police officials and prosecutors - including St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCullough and City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce - to identify and target anyone the campaign determines is producing "misleading" political advertisements.

And just what constitutes "misleading"? Everyone runs adds that are called "misleading" by someone.

Time for the necessary qualifier: As with many conservatives, I believe that McCain-Feingold violates the First Amendment. And, as with many conservatives, I opposed the bill and was and am still mad at McCain over it. But it is nothing compared to what Obama is up to.

Allahpundit was writing about Obama's attorney threatening radio stations over the NRA add and observes that

Usually in cases like this, Obama has his cult followers inundate the offending station with irate, semi-coherent phone calls, like they did recently to try to knock hatemongering smear merchant David Freddoso off the air for the crime of committing journalism critical of The One. For whatever reason they've decided that won't work here, so they're opting for Plan B. Straight out of the Democratic handbook Harry Reid used to threaten ABC's broadcast license for showing the "Path to 9/11," here's Obama lawyer Robert Bauer warning station managers not to air the NRA's new anti-Obama "Hunter" ad if they want to stay in the FCC's good graces.

I don't think this is the change I've been waiting for.