Ann Coulter dares Ted Rall to sue her

Last week, Ann Coulter slandered cartoonist Ted Rall by stating in a speech that he was planning to submit a Holocaust-themed cartoon to Iran. Rall said the statement was untrue and threatened to sue Coulter for slander. Yesterday, Coulter responded by repeating the claim in her print column, giving Rall a case for both slander and libel.

As Rall says, "Insults, vitriol and snotty comments are all part of free speech. Deliberately misrepresenting a person's opinions in order to shut them up is not. What we're witnessing here is no less than a return to the tactics of Senator Joe McCarthy during the 1950s 'Red Scare'--which shouldn't be surprising considering that Ann Coulter wrote an entire book whose thesis was that McCarthy was a great guy who ought to be loved and respected."

Rall has received e-mails accusing him of dishing it out but not being able to take it. In response, Rall says, "I'm as much a free-speech purist as it comes. But in my opinion, this is not a free-speech issue. This is about hijacking my politics and trying to equate my opposition to the Bush administration with anti-Semitism and Holocaust revisionism. Ann Coulter is planting the seed among millions of readers that I'm a Holocaust revisionist, which I'm not. I'm not going to tolerate that."

Rall says it will cost $6,000 just to file the lawuit against Coulter, and perhaps several thousand more to fight her in court. He is accepting donations, which will go directly into an account dedicated to his case. To pledge your support, e-mail Rall at chet@rall.com.

http://www.rall.com/rants.html