Comments on: AP Picks Up Huff-Po Blogger’s Lame Smear Alleging Palin Plagiarism

By: Common_Cents

Common_Cents — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:11:51 +0000

They can publish any rubbish and if called on it, they point to the real source and claim “don’t shoot the messenger”. Typical lawyerlike manipulation of letter of the law.

Secondly, the left knows that big media smear campaigns work and go unpunished. The biggest punishment they get is a fine print retraction buried deep somewhere. Meanwhile big broadly distributed headlines cause tremendous damage.

By: The_Gadfly

The_Gadfly — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:00:30 +0000

What they don’t engage in is news reporting. But than having taken that introductory journo course at college 20+ years ago, and having dealt with blinders of the journalistic community, I have a somewhat different view about journalists. And frankly, describing that opinion as jaded would be too generous to me. And Moe would probably need to blam me if I tried to find the right word to describe that opinion.

By: clement

clement — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:34:26 +0000

We sure dodged a bullet there, almost having a VP who plagiarizes.

That was a close one! /sarc

I can’t believe the dems would REALLY want to go down this path, given Biden’s history.

By: civil_truth

civil_truth — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:28:44 +0000

…but essentially you’re arguing that we repeal all slander and libel laws as a violation of free speech – or as a gateway for muzzling conservative speech. And given the trendline today towards muzzling speech, you have a valid slippery slope concern about bringing the power of the state.

I guess what I’m fearing is that if we don’t reverse the electoral trends, conservatives are about to become powerless to oppose radical Democrats who will use the power of the law to silence us – we already see the legislation in Congress to do that.

And we can’t reverse the electoral trends if we don’t elect more conservatives to office (which means electing Republicans as the only feasible surrogate).

So at what point do we fight back with these perilous tools of slander and libel to prevent our people from being outshouted and destroyed by vindictive personal attacks and false accusations, leaving us defenseless against being silenced in the public arena.

In the long-term, the press will lose credibility. The other problem is that, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, we may be politically dead before then. So I’m not sure we have the luxury of waiting.

Probably this story is not the line in the sand to draw – although this story certain appears to fulfill many of the difficult-to-meet criteria of libel of a public figure – especially given the slowness of the legal process.

I’m not sure I have the answer. It’s just that I hate to stand by while an auto-da-fé is in progress. And while our ranks are being reduced one-by-one towards the point of collapse.

By: NightTwister

NightTwister — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:02:11 +0000

They kept the AP somewhat honest in their reporting…

By: icbm

icbm — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:48:14 +0000

that she’s a grave threat to them, and the more I think that she should run in 2012.

By: duke

duke — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:25:03 +0000

Just like all the celebs show up on the late night talk shows to hawk their mediocre million-dollar flesh fests – most of which go almost directly to DVD – the AP needs to hawk a book that otherwise would go straight to garage sales.

I’m not sure who said it, but “any publicity is good publicity.”

None the less, watch this guy’s jaded book cause a backlash among mainstream America, where Palin is VERY popular.

By: duke

duke — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:19:10 +0000

Let the government-run media tell it like it isn’t all they want. Once you go down that road of slander/libel litigation for saying and writing opinions about others in public life you’ve gone into Harry “Let’s shut-up Rush” Reid territory.

My hope is that the emerging blogs, legitimate news agency reporting (currently mostly Fox), and talk radio will ultimately beat back the insessant and mainly unbelieveable tripe of the cheap headline grabbers.

If you once say, “Let’s sue the bastards,” the libs will gleefully say “OK – now you’re talking!”

By: mriggio

mriggio — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:18:04 +0000

How can you convincingly charge plagiarism when: a) attribution was given, and b) the ‘victim’ calls the charge silly? It’s just more over-the-top Palin Derangement Syndrome, this time to stir up sales for an (bet me!) unflattering book. Dunn and the AP should be writing for Letterman (unfunny slut bits) or Biden (an actual plagiarist).

By: civil_truth

civil_truth — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:07:23 +0000

As in filing a multimillion dollar slander (or perhaps even libel in this case) against the AP. They’re not going to stop with this character assassination until their lawyers get into the act, which won’t happen until they start facing some lawsuits.

By: Moe Lane

Moe Lane — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:06:41 +0000

Sorry to break it to you, Johhny, but out in objective-reality land Gingrich himself finds the whole thing nonsensical.

Now shoo. Grownups talking.

By: civil_truth

civil_truth — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:03:49 +0000

I can’t ban, but the enforcers will be around soon enough, I’m confident.

By: llgm

llgm — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:37:09 +0000

The Huffington post link was pretty convincing. Yes, she mentioned Gingrich in a general way. But she did not attribute the specific language to him. Politicians get caught doing this all the time. “Ask not what your country can do for you…” is from Cicero.