The Runback: Whiny Little Babies
Pat McDonough is the latest in a series of Republicans bringing bogus lawsuits trying to intimidate people. It's a troubling trend.
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News and Politics
Former Insider Sheds Light on "Education Not Indoctrination" Slate: Kira Wynne was a dynamic cog in Frederick County’s ENI Slate. Then they turned on her. A fascinating story of betrayal.
The Politics of Population Density: Swing voters in suburban communities, neither rural nor urban – will have a very decided impact on who prevails on November 8th
Queen Anne's County Commissioner Candidate Can't Spell Commissioner: Richard Nuzback Managed to Make an Elementary Error on his Own Campaign Signs
The DGA Aren't the Only Democrats Dan Cox Loves: Why does Dan Cox like the Baltimore Banner so much?
Shameless Plugs
In my latest for The Capital, I explain why I decided to run for Anne Arundel County Central Committee.
Great Moments in Dan Cox’s Inability to Spell
Team Cox managed to misspell Kelly Schulz’s name on a mailer that, as far as I can tell, was sent to every Maryland Republican. Even I got it. Love how the fact that the largest things you see on her are “Cox” and “Republican in Name Only”. Quality work.
The Monday Tuesday Thought
It was another banner week in the life of professional doofus Pat McDonough.
Pat McDonough has allegedly been stealing the signs of his primary opponent Darren Badillo. Here are some photos Tim Fazenbaker shared of it.
This ultimately led to the Baltimore County Central Committee voting to condemn McDonough for his actions.
McDonough was ultimately charged with theft over the whole deal, but not before McDonough threatened a lawsuit against the Baltimore County Republican Party over the resolution.
It’s that threat of a lawsuit that I want to highlight here.
What possible outcome does McDonough think is going to happen here other than make him look like a fool? There’s a photo of him removing the sign (Don Murphy’s Campaign Rule #6: Never, ever, touch, or deface, your opponent’s campaign sign… For any reason… Ever.) He’s been charged with a crime over it. This should be open and shut.
But what it does do is show us how often Republicans have decided to make themselves enemies of free speech. Even here in Maryland.
Recent examples of this include
Delegate Rick Impallaria’s ineffective and bogus lawsuit against four members of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee for alleged defamation;
Former Montgomery County Republican Chairman Alex Bush (who, amusingly, was the attorney for the defendants in the defamation lawsuit brought by Impallaria) sued several Young Republicans for defamation for opposing his retention as Chairman.
I was the victim of a hilarious suit that got national attention from a failed U.S. Senate candidate, again for defamation;
Gordana Schifanelli sued a local activist, again for defamation, over a Tweet.
This of course doesn’t take into account the Republican fascination with Section 230 Reform, Donald Trump’s verbal war on liberal laws, and other attempts by Trump-world Republicans to silence dissent.
What some of these folks who have filed such lawsuits seem to forget is that New York Times v. Sullivan requires there to be actual malice, to whit, "knowing or reckless disregard for the truth".
And having an opinion is not "knowing or reckless disregard for the truth" in my eyes and the eyes of most Americans.
As far as I’m concerned if a conservative wants to be known as a champion of the Constitution, they better be on the side of free speech and the First Amendment and not on the side of oppression and silencing dissent as so many seem to be these days. You don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the Constitution you want to defend.1
As far as McDonough’s lawsuit, if it materializes, let us hope that it winds up on the ash heap of legal history like so many of these suits that came before.
Liberals would be wise to take heed of this too….