The Washington Free Beacon’s Ellison Barber joined Fox News Monday to discuss the recent report that Rep. Gary Peters (D., Mich.) is seeking to pull an ad criticizing Obamacare from the airwaves.
"This is a backdoor way of shutting down someone’s free speech, there’s no other way to look at it," Barber told "The Kelly File".
The ad, funded by the 501(c)4 Americans For Prosperity, highlights cancer patient Julie Boonstra, a Michigan resident who had her health insurance canceled under the new regulations in the Affordable Care Act. In the ad, Boonstra notes Peters’ support for the health care law, and the harm that the law has caused her. For that, Peters dispatched lawyers to prevent the ad from running on local television stations.
"She said, ‘I lost insurance because of provisions in the Affordable Care Act.’ Who is anyone to say what someone can or can’t afford?" Barber asked. "There is nothing wrong with somebody coming out and saying, ‘This is how I feel, what I believe.’ It is not an issue of politics but free speech and whether or not this person can express it."