Palin attorney warns press on 'defamatory material'

Politico ^ | July 4, 2009 | Jonathan Martin

[Al B.]

Ratcheting up her offensive against the news media, Gov. Sarah Palin’s attorney threatened Saturday to sue mainstream news organizations if they publish “defamatory” stories relating to whether Palin is under federal investigation.

In an extraordinary four-page letter, Alaska-based attorney Thomas Van Flein warns of severe consequences should speculation that until now has largely been confined to blogs about whether Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena find its way into print.

“This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law,” Van Flein warned, citing Alaska liberal blogger Shannyn Moore.

Much like Palin did in her Facebook statement Saturday, Van Flein savages the news media in his letter.

“Just as power abhors a vacuum, modern journalism apparently abhors any type of due diligence and fact checking before scurrilous allegations are repeated as fact,” the Anchorage attorney wrote.

[bitterohiogunclinger]

It would be great if this would actually happen.

[Jeff Head]

Good on her. Go Sarah go!

[Antoninus]

Git ‘em, Sarah. Hit ‘em where it hurts!

[devane617]

I’ll keep saying it—I have never seen anyone that is more of a lightning road as Sarah Palin. The Left will not stop until they completely destroy her and her family, including kids.

[Publius6961]

For those of us who neither live in Alaska nor visit gossip blogs —— who is Ms Moore?

[devane617]

I think she is the person bringing all the ethics charges. She has lost all of them.

[MHGinTN]

When she is no longer a public figure, she can own the sniveling bastards if they do what Letterman tried or the enemedia has been spewing for lo these many months. ... Except the liberals now have too many numbers in the courts to actually have justice in America.

[Terpfen]

Ratcheting up her offensive against the news media…

A more accurate and less biased way of phrasing this would be: "Retaliating after nearly a year into the media's war against her…"

[I see my hands]

"The Left will not stop until they completely destroy her and her family, including kids"

Who’s going to stop them?

[Al B.]

For those of us who neither live in Alaska nor visit gossip blogs —— who is Ms Moore?

Shannyn Moore is a lefty PDS-infected blogger from AK. She has been published in the Huffington Post and she appears on MSNBC as a commentator for their anti-Palin rants.

[SandRat]

The Cuda is barring her Teeth.

[doc1019]

Only because she scares them. Otherwise they wouldn’t bother with her.

[Abby4116]

A few well placed libel/slander jury trials may just do the trick.

[Clintonfatigued]

It’s only defamatory if it’s used against Democrats.

[maccaca]

Dig the dirt on this scumbag, her family, everything. This is a war, period.

[healy61]

Can I suggest as more accurate and less biased phrasing would include, “Kicking ass and taking names.”

[redk]

She is a blogger who is a welcome guest at Huffington Post and PMSNBC. She has been pushing the nonsense that Palin is about to be indicted. I hadn't heard about any of it until the last few minutes, but I guess it has been all over the lefty blogs today and apparently Kos people are flipping out and claiming because she is famous they can say whatever they want about her.

This should get interesting.

[ncalburt]

Is there a contact numher lawyer ? they need to file a suit against Channel 9 in Orlando. They just peddled the Daily Kos lies on the AIR at 10 PM. If any Palin people are interested please pull the 10 Pm report ! I called the Obama drone at the news desk and warned them that they are peddling smears . The news room number is 407-822-8353 and feel free to call them !

[caper gal 1]

Alternative Headline: “Gloves Are Off”.

Go Sarah!