Washington (CNSNews.com) - At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday some attendees compared Democrats to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, claiming that the political right is being silenced by the political left.

"I am hear to warn you of what is going to happen to the First Amendment if the Democrats retain control of both houses of Congress and if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama become president," said Joseph Farah, editor of WorldNetDaily, a popular Web site among conservatives. The First Amendment would be threatened, he said.

Speaking at the conference, which is sponsored by the American Conservative Union, Farah said, "Come January 2009, if Hillary Clinton is in the White House and Harry Reid is still running the Senate and Nancy Pelosi is still cleaning the House, they are going to pass a law bringing back the so-called Fairness Doctrine. It won't make a bit of difference if Barack Obama is president."

The Fairness Doctrine was a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation from 1949 to 1987 that required broadcast licensees to present controversial issues of public importance in a manner deemed by the FCC to be "honest, equitable and balanced."

Congressional Democrats fought last year to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, but failed to gain a substantial number of votes.

Farah said Democrats would "use the coercive power of the state to stifle all dissenting views."

"These people are ruthless, and they are determined to consolidate their power when they get it," he said. "They would do it under the rubric of hate speech legislation. They would do it with the rationalization of fairness and accuracy. They would do it - and have done it - in the name of campaign finance reform. In fact, they would do it without any excuse whatsoever.

"They don't want debate, they don't want a multitude of voices ... they want control," Farah said. "That's what they think they will get if they get back the Fairness Doctrine.

"We are dealing with a neo-fascist mentality here," he said.

"Sounds like the Ann Coulter-Republican Party practice of saying anything, no matter how ridiculous, just to get attention, is on full display today," Louis Miranda, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, told Cybercast News Service.

"That's as ludicrous as suggesting that John McCain has anything to offer but a third Bush term," he added.

According to Steve Rendall, a senior analyst with Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a liberal group, said: "For citizens who value media democracy and the public interest, broadcast regulation of our publicly owned airwaves has reached a low-water mark."

"What has not changed since 1987 is that over-the-air broadcasting remains the most powerful force affecting public opinion, especially on local issues; as public trustees, broadcasters ought to be insuring that they inform the public, not inflame them," he wrote in a recent commentary.

"That's why we need a Fairness Doctrine. It's not a universal solution. It's not a substitute for reform or for diversity of ownership. It's simply a mechanism to address the most extreme kinds of broadcast abuse," Rendall added.

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