A Case, of Identity Thieving
Of COURSE I thought it was the President, he was on TELEVISION. And he SAID he was President Obama. But it turns out it was NOT BARACK OBAMA AT ALL!! The old, person in the room started making excuses about, it being a “joke” and the FAKE BARACK OBAMA being an “actor” but, it did not cut ice with me. People, could have been fooled. In my America, the one the founding fathers like that one Paul Giamatta played in that miniseries (and hey, why hasn’t that guy SUED PAUL GIAMATTA? It is a good thing, I am around to protect the important people of this country from identity, theft) founded, these sorts of things are ILLEGAL, and I know Barack Obama has done the same, thing I have, namingly, to hire a lawyer and demand that this “actor” STOP ILLEGALLY AND FALSELY IMPERSONATING HIM ON TELEVISION or else go to jail.
To continuing my point, this “Meghan McCain” actually had, the nerve to have a lawyer send a letter to, the good people of Red State.org, demanding that I stop impersonating her! Hello! Is my name, Totally Meghan McCain, a part of “Meghan McCain”? No. Is “Meghan McCain” a part of my name, Totally Meghan McCain? I think, as the old people say, that is QDE. Or putting it, in such a manner that independent, young voters who decide the next election, will understand, FACE!
Well guess what, “Meghan McCain,” if allegedly that your name is being, I know lawyers, too, as they are the thing you have to protect your right to tattoo and piercings. And here is the letter he is sending to your “lawyer.” The messaging here is clear, STOP BEING ILLEGAL. Hope you enjoy it!
Editor’s Note: Updated with most recent version of letter available for download as a PDF at the above link. (Don’t worry, this one is just longer.)
Mr. Albin H. Gess, Esq.
Snell & Wilmer, LLP
Plaza Tower
600 Anton Boulevard, Suite 1400
Costa Mesa, California 92626-7689
RE: “Totally”, “Meghan McCain”
Your File: 55278.0003
My File: 1013.0001
Dear Mr. Gess:
The undersigned represents Leon Wolf, the author of the “Totally Meghan McCain” columns at RedState.com. Please direct all correspondence regarding this matter to me.
My client forwarded me your September 23, 2011 letter to Eric(sic) Ericson(sic) concerning the “Totally Meghan McCain” parodies at RedState.com. I confess that I first took the letter itself as a metatextual parody. To my surprise, on a re-reading, I discovered that you were apparently serious.
Initially, on the nominal merits of your letter: As I am sure you know, 47 U.S.C. § 230 completely immunizes any site that publishes my client’s material from Federal or State liability, insofar as such liability is based solely on the fact that such site publishes his material. This would be true even were Mr. Wolf a paid employee of that website, as explained in Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F.Supp. 44 (D.D.C. 1998), which is considered one of the great pathbreaking cases in this area of the law. Your threats against the websites that publish my client’s content are completely without legal merit; your only recourse for this content would be against Mr. Wolf personally, under the black letter of Federal law.
Of course, you also have no recourse against my client individually, as his actionswere clearly a parody of your client, a well-known public political figure. This activity is protected by the First Amendment from state law suits, including false light invasion of privacy. See generally, Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), which is of course directly on point here. See also Horsley v. Rivera, 292 F.3d 695, 701 (11th Cir. 2002) (“the Supreme Court has clarified that the Constitution provides protection for ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ that ‘cannot reasonably be interpreted as stating actual facts about an individual.’ … This protection reflects ‘the reality that exaggeration and non-literal commentary have become an integral part of social discourse.’”) (Citations omitted.); cf., Dworkin v. Hustler Magazine Inc., 867 F.2d 1188, 1195 (9th Cir. 1989).
Of course, the 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.
Very nice, Mr. Wolf.
For what it’s worth, I offer more legal analysis of Mr. Gess’s arguments, and explain why his false light and right of publicity arguments are frivolous, here: http://www.popehat.com/2011/10/02/just-how-demeaning-is-it-to-be-a-lawyer-just-ask-the-one-working-for-meghan-mccain/
Parodists rule; censors suck.
Ken
BRAVO!!!
Bravo, Sir. I think myself a fairly intelligent sort of a chap, but I don’t know how much of this is irony. Obviously, the ‘Meghan being a drooling bimbo’ bit is spoof (is it? IS IT?) but the letter to the lawyer, if bogus, is a work of genius. And if it ain’t, it’s a work of genius.
A masterpiece. The attorneys of Boyd, Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe must be changing their underwear right about now.
>>Although I don’t envy you the Herculean task, please make sure your client understands the potential consequences
LOL
ROTFLMAO!
Sic ‘em!
When you described little Miss McCain as a “spoiled twit”, you left out “majorly ignorant” (I think she would understand).
Since Mommy is a millionaire beer baroness and Daddy is the definitive RINO centrist who stands for nothing more than self-promotion, why can’t little Miss McCain hire Snell & Wilmer, one of the (if not THE) most highly priced law firms in Arizona to harass you.
As in so many things going on right now, I guess we’ll find out just how important the U.S. Constitution really is in today’s United States.
Keep up the good work and God bless,
Glenn
P.S. Since you have a knowledge of the law, is there any way that we can put any of these holders of public office in breach of their oath to “Preserve, Protect and Defend the United States Constitution”? I do not need to list the violations, I think. I live in Arizona so they’re plain to me. GIP
Priceless.
That lawyer’s letter is an absolute classic of the genre.
The old, person in the room started making excuses about, it being a “joke” and the FAKE BARACK OBAMA being an “actor” but, it did not cut ice with me. People, could have been fooled.
Well, that is an everpresent threat. How many people thought that Tina Fey was actually Sarah Palin?
How many? I don’t have any actual numbers, but based on my personal random sample, it seems to be pretty close to 100%.
And I’m talking about college graduates. Some with Master’s degrees in real subjects.
It’s just dumbfounding.
Bravo–Now for the Reagan nitwits and Caroline (you know) Kennedy…and her cousins.
Beautiful.
::Snort::
I love it when people use lawyers to make things more embarrassing for themselves. Well done, Mr Wolf.
I am, to the extent that it’s possible, impressed with what I frankly know that this column was written. It is impossible, so much so to the extent that it is possible,to express the true facts that this case. Albeit, somewhat diminished, the magnitude to what this expresses. I don’t know that I totally agree with that. What?
RedState jumped the shark awhile back. Now they’ve actually made me feel sorry for Meghan McCain. Will PJM follow RedState’s model? Watch this space.
RINO’s of the world unite!
Megan McCain needs you now more than ever.
Dear Mr. Gess:
I thought you should know that some scumbag has stolen your stationary and is using it to make you look like an unprincipled shyster.
Best Wishes….
Gee, PJM is getting like RedState. My comment from last night was not published. Cool!
Don’t you look like an idiot now, Jeanne?
Luckily, it’s deserved.
(Hint: Moderation of a post made late at night may take until the next morning.)
Yeah. By the way, how’s Uncle Jed and Jethro doin’?
What Erick’s puppy, Leon, doesn’t tell you is that about half the geniuses that they still allow to post on RedState thought the original post was real and were giving Erick Hell for allowing that vile RINO Meghan McCain to post on the front page. ‘Course, when you run off practically everyone with a brain you have to expect stuff like that.
“the silent “I” in McCain doesn’t make any sense!”
It does when you remember you can’t spell ‘Meghan McCain’
without an ‘I’.
Or a ‘Me’.
Quite funny that Mr. Badeaux is mocking Ms. McCain’s spelling and grammar when his own letter is laughably flawed.
Laugably flawed?
I found one error – evidently a missing word.
“they don’t want to pay the fees lawyers to defend themselves”
That probably should have read, “fees TO lawyers”.
Other than that, and failing to capitalize Internet (which the dumbers down have now decreed to be acceptable), I found no fault.
Perhaps you are not accustomed to proper English?
You might want to brush up on your grammar and syntax before bragging about being a college graduate. Your article was very difficult to follow.
Ellie- I do believe that was exactly the point, to rip on someone who claims to have a college degree and still have poor grammar and syntax (and if you’ve been in a junior English class in the last 15 years or so, you’ll realize that well…the true irony is that the parody isn’t that far from accurate).
I’m not sure of the legal precedents here, but Megan McCain is herself a parody (albeit unintentional) of a young Republican. The only reason anyone invites her in front of cameras is to provide a parody of Republicans, something she accomplishes with unconscious aplomb. Do the precedents apply to parodies of self-parodying individuals?
Let’s make fun of the passionate people who are speaking their minds and trying to change the world. If this article wasn’t online, it would be crumpled in my recycle bin.
First timer. I read the WashPost blogpost about the McCain lawsuit then had to come here to read for myself. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Why is Meghan McCain such a H8 er? Totally hip and cool how I did that H8 thing. I would explain it but I have tape over my mouth and can’t type loud.
I plan to sue you! Because you did not warn me how funny this was going to be, I snorted almost a full can of coke and almost choked to death and it is all your fault. Expect a letter from my lawyer!
I do want to point out one tiny miss-t-que in the writing. Go to the 4th line below. There should be some sort of verb in the part about the fees lawyers//demand, require, extort// to defend themselves…
On a personal and professional note, I am of the firm conviction that the world is a worse place because of unscrupulous lawyers who force people and companies to forego their legal rights simply because they don’t want to pay the fees lawyers to defend themselves – even from suits that are meritless on their face. It is particularly obnoxious when it is used as an effort to chill free speech – political speech, no less – as has become all too common in response to unflattering internet postings.
I agree with you, but you put one word too many in your “I am of firm conviction that the world is a worse place because of unscrupulous lawyers…”
Leave out “unscrupulous” and you’ve got it exactly right.