Meghan McCain Slapped Down; Will It Be A SLAPP Down?
from the awesome-lawyering dept
Meghan McCain is angry. Apparently, Leon Wolf at Red State, who previously wrote a hilariously scathing review of her book, also wrote two obvious parody posts under the name "Totally Meghan McCain", which didn't sit well with Meghan. Of course, she then did what any rational person would do when confronted with someone making fun of them on the internet: she sent in the lawyers.Specifically, she had her lawyers send a cease and desist (pdf) letter to RedState, claiming that "these fake front page posts place Meghan McCain before the public in a false light which is highly offensive to a reasonable person," and that the RedState community "acted in reckless disregard as to their falsity and the false light in which Meghan McCain was being placed." Unfortunately, RedState announced that although they believed they were legally in the clear, they would take down the posts anyway.
That, in turn, didn't sit well with Leon, who reposted the parodies to pajamasmedia.com and had his lawyer send his own response. The response letter is, in a word, epic:
[T]he subject matter of your letter is a fairly obvious parody to any person of even barely functional literacy. Thus � and your client probably didn�t tell you this � even she recognized that the posts were parodies (or �parody�s,� as she put it). At approximately 8:25 p.m. EDT on September 17th, your client posted to her Twitter feed, �I don�t care about parody�s(sic) or fake names � but falsely putting my name on someone else�s writing is illegal.� She then subsequently deleted this Tweet, presumably when someone told her that �parody�s� were constitutionally protected and it might look bad in a subsequent lawsuit if she were caught admitting in public that these posts were obvious parodies. Not to worry: My client has screenshots.Normally, after such a slap down, I would assume that Meghan's lawyers would wisely decide not pursue the matter further, but these days, who can say? If it does go further, at least the rest of us can cross our fingers for more letters like the above.
(I treat as obvious humor the assertions in your letter that the parodies in question were appropriations of your client�s likeness for advertising purposes, and that persons with no minimum contacts at all with California would in any way be susceptible to jurisdiction there. It is my sincere suggestion that your client do so as well.)
My client will not be bullied out of exercising his First Amendment right to make clear his belief that your client is a spoiled, brainless twit who is cheapening the political discourse in this country. Therefore, henceforth, the �Totally Meghan McCain� series may be found at http://pajamasmedia.com for your client�s reading pleasure.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: legal threat, leon wolf, meghan mccain, parody
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Mother of God....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
As a non-reasonable person, I am not offended at all, and wish to continue to read his posts. Don't I get some rights under the law too?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Fun Never Ends....
"
Adjective 1 Spoiled
Adjective 2 Brainless
Noun 1 Twit
Verb 1 Cheapening
Noun 2 Political Discourse
My client will not be bullied out of exercising his First Amendment right to make clear his belief that your client is a [Adjective 1],[Adjective 2] [Noun 1] who is [Verb 1]the [Noun 2] in this country."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Err, we're talking about lawyers who represent politicians (and other self-entitled elitists). I think you bumped your head if you'd assume either reasonableness or wisdom would enter into the decision making process here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Streisand effect in effect
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Streisand effect in effect
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
Now: '[McCain] posted to her Twitter feed, �I don�t care about parody�s(sic) or fake names � but falsely putting my name on someone else�s writing is illegal.� '
I stand with McCain on THAT -- as the victim of someone right here having used my screen name or handle in attempt to ridicule and discredit me.
Any Techdirt member -- with a handle -- who disagrees with me and McCain about the use of /names/, I assume will have no objection if I or others spoof their handle or real name and post under those here. -- Remarks /here/ to ridicule or various negative comments MUST in this context be interpreted as disagreeing with the above, and so I'll consider that /permission/ to post under /your/ handles.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
I stand with McCain on THAT -- as the victim of someone right here having used my screen name or handle in attempt to ridicule and discredit me."
I fear you're shockingly missing the point. The very name they used was parody, something which would be clear to any reader with a modicum of sense. If someone posts a comment under "Like totally Dark Helmet" and satarizes my common language or arguments (I'm picturing tons of Chicago references here), that is certainly not illegal and would be considered a parody.
In addition, the stupidest thing I could do would be to go legal on such a parody. It'd only draw more attention to it. Now, if someone attempted to paint me as something egregious (say, posting hateful racist stuff and seriously attempting to pass it off as me), there are defamation laws in place to handle that type of thing. It'd have to be REALLY well done for it to be worth going legal, though...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
He can totally use "Dark Helmet", no "totally" needed.
[While you see here the gravatar to identify me, the very existence of those gravatars is sign of how pernicious mis-use of name is. Anyone posting on other pages under my handle can't be detected that way.]
And Dark Helmet, it's YOU who TOTALLY miss that McCain says parody is okay, but the exact name is NOT.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
Sweet! I've always wanted to argue w/myself.
That said, where does McCain say "parody is okay, but the exact name is NOT."? Can you point me to where that is said?
And, more importantly, they DIDN'T use her "exact name". The used "Totally Meghan McCain", an obvious joke and parody. In addition, the posts were made to be over the top rebukes of her intelligence and writing ability. These were so clearly parodies, even McCain recognized as such.
Look, let's boil this down to a simple question: why is she going legal? Is it because she thinks people are going to actually think this stuff was written by her? Or is it because she's angry at what's being written.
If it's the former, she's an idiot, and this isn't illegal. If it's the later, she's petulant, and this isn't illegal.
Either way, she'll lose AND she just drew more attention to these posts she hates so much....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
"That said, where does McCain say "parody is okay, but the exact name is NOT."? Can you point me to where that is said?"
READ the piece above, McCain is quoted as saying:
"I don�t care about parody�s(sic) or fake names..."
Whether she's wise "going legal" I didn't address. I'd advise no. But she IS said to have written what I interpret as not caring about the parody as such, and I think that fully answers your mistaken question.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
While I have your attention: I'll go so far as to suggest that this name confusion tactic, and other disruptive techniques would be good start for a piece, except that even I'm not sure I want to put such ideas out...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
Give it a try, lets find out.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
It isn't actionable at all. No one is suggesting otherwise. Go ahead and use/mock/whatever the handle all you wish.
You seem to think we disagree an awful lot more than we actually do, your blueness....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
I'm GLAD you admit it! Hope you see this one: I'm late. If not, I've got the link and can send people here to prove that you and I largely agree.
This tactic of duplicate names is already getting confusing. A few posters could really make hash of an open site like this, eh? Mike / libertarians never allow for bad actors...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
Might be funny, actually!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: McCain's "entire book is riddled with inappropriate comma use"!
This is sad. You were doing such a good job of ridiculing and discrediting yourself with your own posts.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Money quote
"On the whole, I am simply not a talented enough writer to express how truly horrible this book was. The last line of the book implores readers not to let Meghan �pick up this torch alone.� I can honestly say that I was encouraged throughout to pick up a torch in order to burn my copy of Dirty, Sexy Politics, even though I was reading it on a Kindle. There is no reason that anyone who is not getting paid to review this book should ever, ever spend money on it. If you simply must have large doses of poorly-written fictional tripe written by a narcissistic person who hates conservatives and everything they stand for, read Mike Lupica instead. At least he�s smart enough to know which side he�s on."
Suing the guy perfectly demonstrates everything he wrote about the book and its author.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Grammar Nazi
I think it is reasonable to expect a book that is published to be reasonably free from basic grammatical errors. A book that is not, reflects poorly on both the author and publisher.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
But inquiring minds want to know, if Meghan's lawyers were to indicate the damages would be based on the nature of Leon's reply, what would be her reaction if she were to be informed that the nature of Leon's reply is as follows: "fuck off."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dang. Made mistake of reading more, now McCain looks reasonable!
[reviewer's next paragraph]: "Who the hell is saying these things, Meghan? Perhaps no baseless accusation is repeated more frequently in Dirty, Sexy Politics than the allegation that conservatives advocate and demand �groupthink�; never once is this allegation supported by even the faintest shred of evidence."
First off, reviewer notes that McCain disclaims that the book is impressionistic -- that's the only way I know she does, so his nitpicking for references is out of place. 2nd, McCain's notions are fairly self-evident: at the very least, dissent about the ongoing wars bring accusations of "soft on terrorism" from the fascists who put an "R" after their name. Been no place for me in Republican circles since 1988 at most -- and was out of Democrat circles long before that, though advocate returning to Roosevelt policies. Anyway, the "conservative" reviewer is just an ass, and lousy writer himself: it's NOT a "hilarious" review.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Dang. Made mistake of reading more, now McCain looks reasonable!
I definitely loved the review. A convenient measure of good writing is that it may entertain, educate, and edify. The review did all three in great measure, and also contributed to more than one hysterical laughing fit that earned me odd looks throughout the office.
Because of your hilarious writing and non sequiturs, I thought you were some sort of meta-parody of McCain at first. The idea that you might be serious is frightening.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Dang. Made mistake of reading more, now McCain looks reasonable!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who on earth is Meghan Mcain?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My Favorite Part!
This sort of activity is condemned by the every State Bar association of which I am aware, and is contrary to both the letter and spirit of the ABA�s Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
Made into a lawsuit, it is also a ground for sanctions.
Govern yourself accordingly.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
best lawyer quote ever!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]