Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sarah Palin threatens Joe McGinniss's publishers Crown Publishing to sue them, sends them useless lawyers letter in apparent publicity stunt

By Patrick

No day without the usual Palin drama! Is this going to continue forever? Will the madness ever stop? Now we have another new development: ABC News reports that Van Flein's old law firm sent the publishers of "The Rogue" a legal letter, saying they might sue them. Maybe they will sue if they are in a really bad mood? Or will they toss a coin? In any case, here is the letter:

Lawyers letter 1

Lawyers letter 2


Well, I very much doubt that Joe McGinniss will be afraid of Sarah Palin's lawyers.

Two reasons:

First, for example in the recent Firedoglake Book Salon, Joe McGinniss explained how carefully this book was vetted by Random House. Joe McGinniss wrote:

Bottom line: not only my editor, but Random House attorneys verified every source, in some cases speaking directly to the sources themselves. I have dozens of hours of recorded conversations. Random House attorneys listened to them all, then made an independent judgment about the trustworthiness of the sources. No material from an unverified source is included in the book. Many details were omitted for that reason. Obviously, any writer would like to be able to name every source. In this case, the climate of fear the Palins created in and around Wasilla made that impossible. After seeing how Sarah reacted to my moving next door, many people became afraid for their own safety and said they’d talk to me only if I guaranteed confidentiality. When I felt I had to, I did. Anonymous sources have a long and honorable tradition in U.S. journalism. Look at Woodward and Bernstein and “Deep Throat.” Just last week, the NY Times had a story about the Mets third baseman and quoted an anonymous source. In twelve books written over 42 years, I’ve never been through a legal vetting like this one. It lasted for months.

We can therefore assume that every factual statement in the book is absolutely bullet proof.

Second, as far as I can see, the letter is completely worthless. It appears to be one of the typical "Palin publicity stunts." We have seen so many of them over the years.

It's not difficult to find out what's missing in this letter. Taken from an article called
"How to Use a Cease and Desist Letter to Stop Slander and Libel":

Write the Cease and Desist letter yourself. There are many free templates online. You can also use a plain letter format and make sure to include all applicable details.

1. Include sender and recipient information in the letter head; names and address. In the reference line write the words: "Demand to Cease and Desist ". Date the letter.

2. Request the party to stop making the false statements and describe each statement.

3. Describe how each false statement affects your business, job and reputation.

4. Inform the party that if the actions are not stopped and retraction is taken you will file a law suit.

"Describe each statement"

We can stop right there. In this ridiculous legal letter, not one statement is mentioned in particular. Sarah Palin's lawyer apparently want to assert that the "whole book" is a lie. This is ridiculous and legally unsubstantiated, and nobody in the legal world would take such a letter seriously. Wait for the scathing reply from Crown Publishing/Random House to this letter.

So, apart from being a publicity stunt in order to entertain Sarah Palin's bots who just love the fantasy of their Mama Grizzley fighting against her enemies, is there a more serious purpose behind the letter? The lawyer specifically threatens that they would be entitled to review Joe's email correspondence. I cannot believe that there is any validity to such a claim, especially as Sarah Palin's lawyer is not able so far to name even one false statement in particular.

Just for the record: The "Trig Truthers" were never ever threatened by a lawyer. There only has been a long silence. It's a fun fact - and also not surprising, as there is nothing to threaten us with. "Babygate" is a fact, as we have said many, many times before. Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy, and no lawyer in the world could change that.

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