I'm soooooo sorry. Link (new window)

Bathia_Mapes: I guess Mr Thomas Van Flein has never heard of Freedom of Speech. I already knew Palin was fairly unaware of the U.S. Constitution, but you'd think her lawyer would know better.

You do not have the right to print lies about someone that is called libel. If his allegations were sourced properly but unfounded or the bloggers sources and corroboration sources were both lying meh he's is in 50-50 territory . If they are total fabrications the blogger is farked.

Political hyperbole like calling a politician is a crook and his plan will bankrupt the country is covered. Saying a politician molests little boys without proof or corroboration is an invitation to a court date.

SarahBW: Publishing malicious falsehoods one knows is false is not protected speech, and even public figures may sue and prove the tort of libel.

How is this a "fail"?

You rape children.

FredaDeStilleto: Bathia_Mapes: You Can't Fix Stupid: Bathia_Mapes: I guess Mr Thomas Van Flein has never heard of Freedom of Speech.

Ahem. A number of specific types of communication are not protected by the First Amendment, including:

1. Counterfeiting.
2. Libel.
3. Slander.
4. Incitement to riot.

As someone else already pointed out, though, it's very, very difficult for a public figure to win a defamation/slander suit. But it's not impossible.

Neither 1 nor 4 apply in this case & I think 2 & 3 aren't really applicable either. I've seen no real evidence that the blogger intended to slander or be libelous in her posting. It was more like passing on gossip.

Let's pretend Palin could show the blogger's comments were defamatory. What would her damages be? Would news of a divorce really harm her reputation? You could say that, because she espouses family values, malicious publication of an impending divorce would damage her credibility. But given her and her family's track record, her followers seem very forgiving.

Plus, she plays the victim card very well.

Yea, to win a libel case, which is tough no matter who you are, the standard of evidence requires the plantiff to demonstrate a loss of income directly related to false publiclication. You need both, proving that the Palins have lost money due to the blog at the time of the lawsuit is going to be tough. But hey, it's tougher in Alaska.

Is Palin still GOVERNOR?

OgreMagi: You seem to think I like Palin. I don't. I just find it hilarious how much the left gets bent out of shape over every little thing she does.

You people are like star trek nerds at a convention. Get a life!

If they are wasting resources on her so much the better

Dear moron lawyer -

Please, please PLEASE deliver your preposterous summons to a kindergarten classroom. The army of press that will certainly be waiting for you to arrive full of bluster and self-righteousness and make the cute little kids cry while you try to intimidate their teacher into not picking on 'Caribou Barbie', And they will replay the scene ad infinitum. Think she's got a problem with public sympathy now? Bring it.

Sincerely,

Common Decency

Antidamascus: JerkyMeat: The media hates her because she is a threat and they will never stop.

A threat to what?

The media! If she were elected there would be no media.

No, the White House "Department of Law" will handle the media, because freedom of the press doesn't apply when you're the Supreme Overlord.

/yes, she did actually suggest that

While that's a very well written and thoutful post, I kind of have to disagree. The coalition that Sarah represents is a small, shrinking, and increasingly irrelevant anachronism in America. And based on polls, she is not "gathering" support, but rapidly losing what little she ever had. Politically, she will never amount to anything.
Personally, I'm bored with Sarah, and the press can start ignoring her any time, as far as I'm concerned. She's not a "bad" person - she's merely a part of a segment of America that is socially and economically obsolete, and vanishing. "Redneck America (or "Real America, if you prefer) has no real place in the modern world, and it's dying out - has maybe one generation left. America is fast becoming a younger, browner, and more educated and politically moderate nation.
So actually, I have to agree with the righties on this one. Leave Sarah alone.
The Republicans are going to have to find a new schtick, and soon. This act is played out

gothelder: /Palin did to the GOP what Ace and Nicky did to the Vegas Mob.

THIS

AND seriously I thank the MSM for thrashing her. Now just keep it up through 2010 and 2012 please.

I could never vote for someone who supports the atrocity of a libel suit.

/i see what i did there

If Palin can show the blogger actually knew the information was false- or recklessly disregarded the truth- then in fact, she CAN sue his ass for defamation.

TigerStar Quote 2009-08-03 08:54:48 AM
Obviously she's not still governor. People who leave office however are often referred to by their last-held high political title. Ex-governors and senators are usually called "governor" and "senator," ex-presidents are still addressed as "Mr. President," etc.

das_klaun: Lionel Mandrake: I wonder if she'll be wearing her wedding ring the next I see her on the mainstream MSM media.

The mainstream Main Stream Media media?

It's kind of like "Personal Identification Number Number."

Well, it's not like the article said Palin pals around with domestic terrorists or anything.

jso2897: So actually, I have to agree with the righties on this one. Leave Sarah alone.
The Republicans are going to have to find a new schtick, and soon. This act is played out

NOOOO!!!! Please keep going after Sara and maybe the repubs can move towards the middle some and become sane again then build a coalition with the blue dogs.

The lefties can blow their wad going after her. And maybe a sane center to center right coalition can be built to save our collective a$$es from the financial train wreck we are going to see in 10 years.

crazytrpr: The lefties can blow their wad
blow their wad
blow their wad
blow their wad
blow their wad

You'd like that, wouldn't you?

crazytrpr: OgreMagi: You seem to think I like Palin. I don't. I just find it hilarious how much the left gets bent out of shape over every little thing she does.

You people are like star trek nerds at a convention. Get a life!

If they are wasting resources on her so much the better

Bloggers = "resources"

LOLZ

TigerStar: Is Palin still GOVERNOR?

I think it's an honorific that's still applied to your name even after you leave the occupation at hand. Similar to "senator" or "Kiddie diddler"

Bathia_Mapes: I guess Mr Thomas Van Flein has never heard of Freedom of Speech. I already knew Palin was fairly unaware of the U.S. Constitution, but you'd think her lawyer would know better.

Freedom of speech does not allow someone to lie about you or did you not make it out of the 5th grade?

Im amazed at how serious the left takes palin when 90% of the right doesnt take her seriously, even previous supports that I knew for her have jumped off her band wagon.

thelordofcheese: How does that make people bigots? Should I post a screencap from The Princess Bride?

Absolutely. I'm shocked that it hasn't been done already. Have at it! And someone should buy Kernel Disorder a dictionary.

HotWingConspiracy: Bloggers = "resources"

Well, she works at a kindergarten, so she IS a resource. She's the one who will have to remind future Republicans not to shove the paste up their noses

eggrolls: Dear moron lawyer -

Please, please PLEASE deliver your preposterous summons to a kindergarten classroom. The army of press that will certainly be waiting for you to arrive full of bluster and self-righteousness and make the cute little kids cry while you try to intimidate their teacher into not picking on 'Caribou Barbie', And they will replay the scene ad infinitum. Think she's got a problem with public sympathy now? Bring it.

Sincerely,

Common Decency

Yes cause its common decency allows people to put lies up freely on the internet, are you trying to make palin the sympathetic figure that she has been crying about the past few months while saying she has been the target of frivolous lawsuits and attacks on her family?

All of you are playing right into her hands.

eggrolls: Dear moron lawyer -

Please, please PLEASE deliver your preposterous summons to a kindergarten classroom. The army of press that will certainly be waiting for you to arrive full of bluster and self-righteousness and make the cute little kids cry while you try to intimidate their teacher into not picking on 'Caribou Barbie', And they will replay the scene ad infinitum. Think she's got a problem with public sympathy now? Bring it.

Sincerely,

Common Decency

Dear Eggrolls

I hope he serves it at the kindergarten. The media circus would be entertaining too. And the kids would get over it. IF the press acts like a$$hats and scaring kids with their "righteous indignation", then they will be see for what they are a howling mob.

We do not know if these allegations are true, she is suing based on the allegations being false. If they are true the blogger is golden, if false the blogger knew them to be false then the blogger is farked. People don't sue if the blogger is right they lay low and wait for it to blow over. Even someone as dumb as palin would figure that out.

Slander and Libel are not protected speech. I hope this makes it to trial it would be entertaining.

Crazytrpr

Viss: stiletto_the_wise: We've always known about the evangelical, judgemental, morally uptight, family values Repulbicans who want to replace the Constitution with the Bible, and their public faces, Bush, Huckabee, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc. We pretty much know what's going to come out of their mouths about any particular issue, and it's obvious who supports them--frothing Christians.

We've always known about the evil, scheming, war-mongering, gun-toting, immigrant-hating, closeted racist, America-is-the-ruler-of-the-world wing of the Republican party, characterized by Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Libby, Wolfowitz, etc. They have their public faces, and we all know generally how they operate. And they clearly appeal to a certain demographic of flag-waving uber-patriots terrified of foreigners.

We even know that fringe group of small-government fiscal conservatives that used to be a significant part of the party, and their monotonous "less government, lower taxes, and free enterprise solves every problem" mantra. Despite being represented by fringe loonies nowadays, they're still familiar.

The interesting thing is: The recent appearance of Sarah Palin on the national stage cast a giant spotlight on the forth, largely unexamined, but huge and growing wing of the Republican party. Its underbelly, if you will, characterized by ignorance, open and unashamed racism/nationalism, contempt for intellectual curiosity, reliance on emotion over logic, respect of popularity over truth, distrust of scientists and the educated, and extreme rural/backwoods values. Folks who want their decision-makers to not only ignore the facts, but to openly contradict them... or better yet, to not even know the facts to begin with! These are people who are proud to say "I don't know that!" who "don't want no ivory tower smarty-pants runnin things." Liberals have long dismissed these people as powerless hillbillies content to stay in their trailers and not vote, and they don't really have a plan for beating them politically. That's what gets Democrats unusually vocal about Sarah Palin--they've never really had to fight someone like her before, and don't have a strategy yet.

Now she's out there, loose on the country, gathering followers. Although she didn't invent anti-intellectualism, she's been an extremely effective force in whipping up the crowd and focusing their idiot semi-minds on the task of opposing rationality. Say what you will about the rest of the party, they at least tried to govern based on facts, even if their facts were wrong or distorted. Sarah Palin represents the philosophy that facts don't matter, and that the intellectuals who come up with those facts are dangerous.

Ignore Palin at your own peril. She represents the force actively and desperately trying to make the movie "Idiocracy" come true.

*yawn* go back to democraticunderground, you 'moran'.

Oh, and UFIA/DIAF while you're at it.

Yeah, you don't need no ivory tower smarty pants telling you what to think!

steamingpile: Yes cause its common decency allows people to put lies up freely on the internet, are you trying to make palin the sympathetic figure that she has been crying about the past few months while saying she has been the target of frivolous lawsuits and attacks on her family?

All of you are playing right into her hands.

Palin is about as sympathetic as pile of shiat. Her lawsuit would serve a purpose if it has merit. If it has merit than a victory would make the propaganda machines take pause before they print BS. You can't print lies about anyone, even Palin and get away with it.

IXI Jim IXI: I think it's an honorific that's still applied to your name even after you leave the occupation at hand. Similar to "senator" or "Kiddie diddler"

You said "senator" twice.

mama's_tasty_foods: If Palin can show the blogger actually knew the information was false- or recklessly disregarded the truth- then in fact, she CAN sue his ass for defamation.

TigerStar Quote 2009-08-03 08:54:48 AM
Obviously she's not still governor. People who leave office however are often referred to by their last-held high political title. Ex-governors and senators are usually called "governor" and "senator," ex-presidents are still addressed as "Mr. President," etc.

While, technically correct, actually proving the blogger's intent would be amazingly difficult in this case. It's just not a matter of his failure to fact-check; the blogger would have to know that s/he was publishing material that had no or little basis in fact. It's not as if s/he were posting "Palin blows monkeys"; the subject matter (divorce) is, by itself a common occurrence. And a private one. The blogger was restating a possibility that, one it's face, was tenable.

steamingpile: eggrolls: Dear moron lawyer -

Please, please PLEASE deliver your preposterous summons to a kindergarten classroom. The army of press that will certainly be waiting for you to arrive full of bluster and self-righteousness and make the cute little kids cry while you try to intimidate their teacher into not picking on 'Caribou Barbie', And they will replay the scene ad infinitum. Think she's got a problem with public sympathy now? Bring it.

Sincerely,

Common Decency

Yes cause its common decency allows people to put lies up freely on the internet, are you trying to make palin the sympathetic figure that she has been crying about the past few months while saying she has been the target of frivolous lawsuits and attacks on her family?

All of you are playing right into her hands.

Bahahahaha

Yeah, the diabolical genius Sarah Palin is orchestrating this whole thing. This will turn her ship around.

HotWingConspiracy: crazytrpr: OgreMagi: You seem to think I like Palin. I don't. I just find it hilarious how much the left gets bent out of shape over every little thing she does.

You people are like star trek nerds at a convention. Get a life!

If they are wasting resources on her so much the better

Bloggers = "resources"

LOLZ

A free resource is still a resource even a tiny blogger in Alaska. How to internet memes and bloggers get their start? They all start with someone posting something and it getting traction.

crazytrpr: Palin is about as sympathetic as pile of shiat. Her lawsuit would serve a purpose if it has merit. If it has merit than a victory would make the propaganda machines take pause before they print BS. You can't print lies about anyone, even Palin and get away with it.

I understand that, but the problem is soccer moms will start to look at her sympathetically, but both of us know that politicians do nothing without having an angle.

HotWingConspiracy: Bahahahaha

Yeah, the diabolical genius Sarah Palin is orchestrating this whole thing. This will turn her ship around.

If she can keep proving that people are trying to slander her then she will build up sympathy, everyone loves an underdog and if all the rest of the world is against her then the same idiots who elected obama on his "change" platform will start to look at her as a martyr.

Meowsertd: maybe if she wins people will leave her alone for 15 mins... :) ?

I'll leave her alone forever.

crazytrpr: jso2897: So actually, I have to agree with the righties on this one. Leave Sarah alone.
The Republicans are going to have to find a new schtick, and soon. This act is played out

NOOOO!!!! Please keep going after Sara and maybe the repubs can move towards the middle some and become sane again then build a coalition with the blue dogs.

The lefties can blow their wad going after her. And maybe a sane center to center right coalition can be built to save our collective a$$es from the financial train wreck we are going to see in 10 years.

Meh. Maybe. Doesn't strike me as a probable outcome. I really don't see anything productive coming out of this, myself. Maybe I'm just projecting my boredom with the situation onto the situation. I guess I see her as a poster child for a vanishing and increasingly irrelevant social anachronism, and I'd just as soon let her ride off into the sunset without further comment.

jso2897: crazytrpr: jso2897: So actually, I have to agree with the righties on this one. Leave Sarah alone.
The Republicans are going to have to find a new schtick, and soon. This act is played out

NOOOO!!!! Please keep going after Sara and maybe the repubs can move towards the middle some and become sane again then build a coalition with the blue dogs.

The lefties can blow their wad going after her. And maybe a sane center to center right coalition can be built to save our collective a$$es from the financial train wreck we are going to see in 10 years.

Meh. Maybe. Doesn't strike me as a probable outcome. I really don't see anything productive coming out of this, myself. Maybe I'm just projecting my boredom with the situation onto the situation. I guess I see her as a poster child for a vanishing and increasingly irrelevant social anachronism, and I'd just as soon let her ride off into the sunset without further comment.

How can we miss her if she won't go away?

You Can't Fix Stupid: Bathia_Mapes: I guess Mr Thomas Van Flein has never heard of Freedom of Speech.

Ahem. A number of specific types of communication are not protected by the First Amendment, including:

1. Counterfeiting.
2. Libel.
3. Slander.
4. Incitement to riot.

As someone else already pointed out, though, it's very, very difficult for a public figure to win a defamation/slander suit. But it's not impossible.

She's not a public figure, she's a victim. Just like every other conservative.

Bliggers?

They should serve the summons/complaint to that twat at the school where she assists.

Those of you who are spouting off about this woman's First Amendment rights being violated obviously slept through your civics class - or did what the majority of folks do... And that is to skim by, barely making a "C."

The person running this blog is malicious in her intent against a private citizen - no matter how high profile she may be. And as a private citizen, Palin is free to take steps to protect herself and her family from defamation.

And, by the way, that photoshop of the Palin/Biden debate regarding her having a Down Syndrome child is insensitive and repulsive. You should be ashamed of yourself. You not only make a petty, nasty stab at a woman and her family, but you made me cough oatmeal up my nose and onto my desk when I laughed. That hurt.

FarketyFarkerson: das_klaun: Lionel Mandrake: I wonder if she'll be wearing her wedding ring the next I see her on the mainstream MSM media.

The mainstream Main Stream Media media?

It's kind of like "Personal Identification Number Number."

For the gubmint employees out there:

CAC card = Common Access Card card

But then it might come off inappropriate to ask to see someone's CAC...

crazyeddie: Bliggers?

It is obviously Blaggers. There is no "O".

How did I know her resignation would mean she would be seeking more and more attention.

Please, Ms. Palin, just leave the newsosphere.

elchip: Lionel Mandrake: Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.

You owe me a new left lung. And an eyeball. I think.

Lionel Mandrake: So she left the world of fighting frivolous lawsuits for a "higher calling" which apparently includes filing frivolous lawsuits.

I wonder if she'll be wearing her wedding ring the next I see her on the mainstream MSM media.

FTFY.

/Sorry.
//Pet peave.

JerkyMeat: The media hates her because she is a threat and they will never stop.

A threat to what?

Sanity? Common sense? Intelligence? Rationality?

She isn't the worst politician out there. There are a lot worse making laws in congress on both sides of the aisle.

Yeah, I think Sarah Palin going after someone who works in a kindergarten class would be a huge PR boon.

Eddie Adams from Torrance: That sounds like the makings of a brilliant campaign slogan.

Palin 2012 - Not the worst evar!

I've used two campaign slogans for several years.

Lstywnch - Because we need a President with nice tits.
and
Lstywnch - Anything is better than what we've got.

I'm not old enough for the office of President yet, so I suppose Sarah could borrow them.