Michael Leahy, co-founder of Top Conservatives on Twitter and one of the primary organizers of the national tea parties, has filed suit (PDF warning) for libel against a woman he claims is a former Obama staffer, among others.  The post that spawned the lawsuit is available at teablogging dot net - no link per general blog policy to not give undue attention to trolls.  Most of the content of the blog post is available in the PDF, along with the link to the blog post.  The post claims that Leahy has managed to incur $150K in debt, including a substantial portion owed to the IRS. 

I have to admit, I'm torn on this one.  Leahy's trying to make a case that he's not a public figure, but I think it's possible with his level of activism that he's moved out of the realm of private citizen.  His suit doesn't seem to recognize satire (does he really think that anyone would truly believe that he's "a member of some alien race of Lizard People" or an "insane clown"?).  I'm a believer that when you stick your head up, you'd better be certain that your nose is clean at least in the area where you're sticking your head up - think Ward Churchill.  Having a leader of a movement that's protesting taxes, who owes over $80,000 to the IRS, doesn't speak well as to the motives of the leader.

On the other hand, this smacks of Joe the Plumber tactics.  One of the parties named in the suit has gone so far as to say that Leahy and another TCOT member must be destroyed.  Has the Internet turned the political arena into something where none of us on either side are clean enough to withstand the added scrutiny, or are we just in an age where those few who are sparkling and shiny and pure are too reluctant to throw their hats in the ring for fear of being ripped apart?

Posted by: Alice H at 09:04 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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