January 9, 2007
Dear Joe Scarborough,
Why are you trying to turn my webpage about you, What Liberal Media? into What Death of an Aide? by threatening me with a lawsuit?
Click here for the PDF.
Resumes are important, Joe, and you fit the mold of my political comedy website, All Hat No Cattle -- People pretending to be what they are not. Gee, you like Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, and they make fun of you, too!
My feelings are hurt.
"[despite] what Bill O‘Reilly says, I am now a journalist and I try to play it down the middle as much as possible. -- Joe Scarborough, 1-4-07 Scarborough Country transcript
Joe Scarborough, self proclaimed journalist, aka
right wing opportunist.
Wikipedia definition of journalism:
Journalism is a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting news regarding current events, trends, issues and people. Those who practice journalism are known as journalists. Since the beginning of the 20th Century, most journalists have traditionally been paid professionals holding a degree in this field.
I was one of your constituents during your tenure as a Congressman from northwest Florida from 1994-2001 and when you resigned 6 months after you were re-elected in 2000. You were a part of the Newt Gingrich movement telling the U.S. how good Republican policy was and how Democrats were evil, even stupid. Remember the column you wrote for the Pensacola News Journal titled "In this election, the D stands for Dumb-ocrat"? You currently describe your stunning resignation on your website as: In May, 2001, Joe retired from Congress to spend more time with his children, practice law, and launch a cable news program. Retired, Joe? You resigned and a costly special election had to be held, much to the ire of your fellow Republicans. This site linked to the actual news stories of your resignation in 2001 with great curiosity.
In 1999, while still serving as our Congressman, you published a free weekly tabloid catering to the "black- helicopters-and-Hillary-Clinton-is-a-lesbian" crowd. The motto published on front page of many editions stated: READ COVER TO COVER - NEVER BOUND BY THE TRUTH.
You describe it on your personal website: In 1999, Scarborough founded and published the award-winning newspaper The Florida Sun. And amazingly, there is not one copy of The Florida Sun "newspaper" on the Internet. I cannot find any mention of it's award, except on your site. I hope it was an award for page design, Joe, because it was a good looking, partisan-hack "newspaper" -- never bound by the truth, of course.
I've been curious all these years: Was your right-wing publication's "journalism" a way of unifying your constituents?
In July 2001, your aide was found dead in your Fort Walton Beach, Florida office.
Here's a Journalism 101 test question: If a dead aide is found in a Congressman's office, should that be above-the-fold, front page news in his hometown newspaper? If you answered yes, you too are on your way to becoming a journalist, Joe!
Your hometown newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal chose otherwise. Two days after your aide's death, the PNJ buried a brief on the inside. Don't newspapers inform the public? I guess the PNJ must have run out of ink for you, Joe, after running a gazillion stories on Democratic Congressman Gary Condit and Chandra Levy, his missing EX-aide.
Your dead aide was found at the same time that the story about Condit and his missing ex-aide Chandra Levy were on all the cable news channels, 24/7. Meanwhile, the national media ignored the story about the dead aide found in your office. Remember that, Joe?
The media spotlight was on a Democrat whose former aide had disappeared, but a Republican with a dead aide found in his office was kept in the dark shadows.
The webpage of mine you object to is titled What Liberal Media? As your constituent, I saw you get kid glove treatment from the police and the PNJ. As I wrote in 2001:
ONLY ONE NEWSPAPER IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES COVERED THIS DRAMA -- The NW Florida Daily News (Ft. Walton Beach) 21 links are listed below that cover the death of Lori Klausutis. Joe's hometown newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal only ran three brief articles.
Unfortunately not all 21 links are available anymore. In September 2006, the NWF Daily News began charging for their archives but I saved many via Google cache.
In October 2006, I received a phone call from your lawyer, Mike Papantonio, indicating you wanted me to remove my all slant (which was never defined) on my webpage What Liberal media? which is a 6-year-old collection of news articles and biographical information on you, Joe.
I asked Papantonio specifically what you wanted removed, on the phone and via email. The only response I received was a threat of a lawsuit unless I removed all slant (?) to you and your dead aide.
Holey Moley. I was very upset -- as anyone would be if threatened with a lawsuit!
Now it's January 2007, and I finally have some time to deal with your threat of a lawsuit. My time is limited because I am one of those Americans who has three jobs. It's a bit ironic that the president you defended so vigorously during the election 2000 controversy has expressed great admiration for hard-working Americans like me. He was quoted as saying to Mary Mornin, a woman in her late fifties who told the president she was a divorced mother of three, including a 'mentally challenged' son and had three jobs in order to survive. "You work three jobs? Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.) " -- George W. Bush
Yeah, I work three jobs too, and I haven't gotten much sleep since your threats, Joe. Your lawsuit has greatly interfered with my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Being the pragmatic person I am, I asked the advice of many lawyers about your threat. I even obtained pro-bono legal representation from a foundation along the way, just in case needed. One of the more interesting and surprising pieces of advice was given to me by a recently retired conservative prosecutor: "F**ck him. File a counter suit for $50 million." Oh, my.
Joe, are you trying to twist, rewrite or erase the facts? Or are you trying to pull an act of untruthiness? It seems you did by claiming you retired instead of resigned, by calling your weekly right-wing giveaway a "newspaper," and by seeking the removal of my webpage What Liberal Media? And it is all coming back to haunt you because of your sloppy handling and drawing even more attention to it by threatening to sue me.
And you want to sue me? For what? Is it because when you Google yourself my webpage comes up No. 5?
MSNBC disgraces the work of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley by bringing in a partisan hack pretending to be a journalist.
There are hundreds of websites and even playing cards that accuse you of much worse things than I have stated about the preferential treatment you received from the media.
I've been fighting "untruthiness" since before it was a word. How about you, Joe?
Sincerely,
Lisa Casey, producer of the political comedy website www.allhatnocattle.net
Contact only by e-mail as I am out of the country.
Readers you can discuss this on new blog spot I have created. www.allhatnocattle.net/blog1/
Readers you can send your
comments about their employee to MSNBC
TV
.
You can also mail a letter
to:
MSNBC TV
One MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, N.J. 07094
or you can write Joe himself.
or MSNBC's Keith Olbermann in case you may want to nominate Joe for "The Worst Person in the World"
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Dear Readers,
I apologize for not having my regular edition today but as you can see my time has been taken up with this Scarborough issue.
I will return producing All Hat No Cattle as soon as possible.
Peace,
Lisa
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