She’s back. And just in the nick of time.
Sarah Palin, Alaska’s half-term governor, emerged from the shadows this week, picking up where she left off in her war against the “lamestream media.”
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The former Vice Presidential candidate hooked the biggest fish in the pond, filing a defamation suit against the New York Times, Public Enemy No. 1 among the right-wing crowd.
In the suit filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Palin charged that a NYT editorial published online June 14 featured a statement about her that the paper knew was false. The Times piece linked Palin to the 2011 shooting spree that wounded former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
The Times issued a correction, saying there was no link between Palin and the shooting, but the complaint says that response “did not approach the degree of the retraction and apology necessary and warranted by the The Times’ false assertion that Mrs. Palin incited murder.”
Palin has every right to sue the NYT. But as media critic Howie Kurtz points out there is a very high bar in defamation cases involving public figures. The Governor must prove the Times acted with malice or reckless regard for the truth. The correction goes a long way in mitigating the malice charge,
Despite long odds, Palin resorted to the legal system in pursuing her beef against the Times. She acted like an adult—unlike our President, who uses Twitter to rant and rave like a spoiled child.
Trump’s infantile outburst today aimed at MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski (“low I.Q. Crazy Mika”) and Joe Scarborough (“Psycho Joe”) is a new low—for the moment—for our leader, who should have more important things on his mind. Healthcare, Russian election meddling, North Korea, Syria come to mind.
Even House Speaker Paul “The Irish Undertaker” Ryan gathered some gumption to mildly rebuke the President. He said of the slap at Brzezinski: “I don’t see that as an appropriate comment.” Go get `em, Paul.
It’s good to see Palin back in the spotlight. Though she wasn’t exactly a towering presence during her run with John McCain for the White House, she towers over the current crew at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
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