Citizen Jeff

After she slammed Sarah Palin and her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, on The Huffington Post for threatening fellow blogger Shannyn Moore with a defamation lawsuit, Jeanne Devon (aka AKMuckraker) has so far generated almost 4000 reader comments, many of which amplify Devon’s mockery of Palin/Van Flein.

But Devon’s criticism is based on a false premise, that Palin/Van Flein expressed the belief that something innocuous Moore said on television last week, is defamatory. Specifically, when interviewed on MSNBC last Friday by David Shuster, Moore said: “There is a scandal rumor here that there is a criminal investigation into some activities and that’s been rumored for about, I don’t know, probably six weeks or two months.”

Devon goes to town on HuffPo taunting Palin about the preposterousness of regarding that comment as actionable. The problem is, neither Palin nor Van Flein ever said anything about that comment.

Imagine if I published a story in which I called Devon an idiot for saying the world is flat. I think it’s safe to assume that many readers who know the world is round would agree Devon is ignorant. But what if Devon hadn’t really said the world is flat? Devon has subjected Palin and Van Flein to the same sort of injustice.

In a statement released last Saturday, Van Flein indicated the objectionable words were posted on Moore’s blog: “To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as ‘fact’ that Governor Palin resigned because she is ‘under federal investigation’ for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation.”

At this point, the worst we can say about Van Flein and Palin’s legal threat, is that they have failed to be specific. But that doesn’t entitle Devon to publish fiction as fact.