Larry Klayman is still trying to score a big payday in court, which explains the exorbitant, unrealistic amounts of money he seeks in his politically motivated lawsuits.
Last year, he sued the White House Correspondents Association for $10 million as part of WorldNetDaily’s snit fit over not being able to buy as many seats at the WHCA dinner that it wanted — a lawsuit that was swiftly tossed out of court. Last month, he filed another lawsuit for WND, this time seeking at least $225 million from Esquire magazine over a satirical piece about Jerome Corsi’s birther book, complete with dog-and-pony show to announce the lawsuit.
Klayman’s at it again, this time suing MSNBC host Rachel Maddow for $50 million on behalf of a Minnesota preacher named Bradlee Dean, whom he claims Maddow defamed by selectively editing a rant by Dean to suggest that he favors the execution of gays.
A July 26 WND article by Bob Unruh announced the lawsuit. Unruh falsely suggested that Maddow ignored a disclaimer by Dean that he does not support the killing of gays; in fact, Maddow specifically said after airing the Dean clip: “Mr. Bradlee with two e’s later clarified that he didn’t really mean to sanction murder of gay people. He said, ‘We have never and will never call for the execution of homosexuals.’ Which is nice.”
Unruh, of course, did not disclose his employer’s conflict of interest by noting that Klayman is currently representing WND. He also ignored Dean’s long history of anti-gay rhetoric (perhaps because WND himself is so anti-gay that its employees believe a ludicrous statement like Dean’s claim that “On average, [homosexuals] molest 117 people before they’re found out” is documented fact); instead, Unruh serves as public relations agent for Bradlee and his ministry,You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International:
Dean, a renowned hard metal rocker who became a Christian after suffering a hard life as a young boy, has dedicated his life to his ministry’s mission, the group said.
[…]You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, founded by Dean, has reached more than 500,000 young people with a message of truth and hope across the country. His message focuses on basic constitutional issues. He’s also spoken at churches, festivals, prisons, detention centers and on radio and television programs.
Dean also is drummer for Junkyard Prophet, which has sold over 40,000 albums in the Minneapolis area alone. Bradlee is endorsed by world-class companies such as Sonor, Buttkickers, Beatnik (including his own signature drum pad), Hornet Drumsticks (including his own signature sticks) and Soultone Cymbals.
Unruh devoted a second article to the lawsuit the next day, focusing on Klayman and Dean’s claim that Maddow was “trying to undercut the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and to do that attacked those with whom she has associated.” In fact, only one of the two segments that mentioned Dean also mentioned Bachmann, and that was to note that the two would be sharing a stage at a “tea party nominating convention.”
The irony of this entire episode is that Klayman himself makes a habit of defaming his political enemies. He’s particularly fond of using his WND column to insist that President Obama a Muslim — which amounts to defamation in the eyes of his readers — repeatedly calling him the “mullah in chief”:
- “In an orchestrated public-relations campaign following the death of Osama bin Laden (OBL), President Barack Hussein Obama, in conjunction with the American Muslim community, sent forth messengers, like the Ground Zero mosque Imam Faisal Rauf, to spew forth an amazing message: The time for “healing” between Muslims, Christians and Jews has come with OBL’s demise. In other words, non-Muslims should allegedly stop persecuting and get ‘off the backs’ of Muslims and look the other way regarding their general nonchalance toward terrorism. … In short, what we saw this week was Obama and his Muslim friends literally ‘making love’ with each other, all made possible thanks to the death of OBL. While it was “theatre of the absurd,” there does not seem to be a denouement in sight to Obama and his administration’s support of Muslims at our expense.” — May 7
- “Emboldened by increased popularity brought about by the killing of Osama bin Laden, Barack Hussein Obama, our first ‘Muslim’ president, has joined with Palestinians to now knock off Israel. … We need to preserve our our way of life. We need to protect our religious freedoms, which are under attack by our ‘Muslim’ president and his fellow anti-Semites and anti-Christian haters.” — May 21
- “I am not a xenophobe. I have married foreigners, represented them legally as an international lawyer and I speak four languages – some people think even English. All of my beloved grandparents emigrated from other countries. But the actions of Obama, which further an Islamic revolution, coupled with the possibility that he was foreign born in Kenya to an anti-American communist and Muslim father, seem to square with his designs and actions. It lends credence to our constitutional edict that the American president be born here, to American parents. Put simply, Obama’s traitorous actions may very well stem from his identifying with his foreign rather than his alleged American roots.” — April 30
- “We all remember last year’s Obama outrage; canceling the White House commemoration of May’s National Day of Prayer and instead celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the people’s house. To add insult to injury, the president used the occasion to effectively endorse the Ground Zero mosque. What we witnessed before this shocking display was a chief executive who went out of his way to humiliate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he first interrupted and then left the Jewish leader waiting during a meeting in the White House, while Obama went off to have a cozy dinner with first lady Michelle. That’s not to mention the administration’s generally hostile attitude and approach toward Israel and its now obsessive “outreach” to radical Arabic interests. Couple this with Obama’s dissing of and failure to support the Persian freedom movement in Iran, a natural ally of Israel and the West if there is regime change, and we have the backdrop of a president, true to his black Muslim Chicago roots, not only obsessed with the radical Arab world, but also hostile to Jews, Christians and Persians.” — Feb. 5
Klayman has also sleazily portrayed Bill and Hillary Clinton as murderers:
During the so-called “Clinton years,” when I took the testimony of nearly everyone in the White House, it became well-known that Hillary Rodham Clinton was in effect the operational chief of the administration and its “hit man” – the evil point person for destroying adversaries – and head of the “War Room,” which also comprised James Carville and George Stephanopoulos. Hubbie Bill was the “creative genius,” not only with regard to foreign policy, but literally with regard to “domestic affairs.” Just ask Monica Lewinsky and the cigar industry. But there is one statement I will always remember: “Hillary rules the school,” testified to by Linda Tripp, the former assistant to mysteriously deceased Hillary law-firm partner and Clinton Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster – giving a new meaning to the French expression “femme fatale.” As also suggested during the testimony, Vince was the “love slave” who “watered Hillary’s office plants” and may have died for being honest and not wanting to go along any longer in helping her execute evil deeds. Over 80 material witnesses and others “died” during the Clinton years, and poor Vince was only one of them.
[…]With this resumé, it’s no wonder Barack Hussein Obama was fearful to have Clinton nominated as his vice presidential candidate in 2008. Hillary would only have been a stone’s throw away from the Oval Office, and the “mullah in chief” obviously did not want to encourage his own “unfortunate accident.” Instead, knowing that Hillary would always covet the presidency, Obama sought, European style, to co-opt her – that is, draw her into his inner circle to contain her by naming her secretary of state.
If Klayman’s lawsuit on behalf of Dean is valid, then it’s equally valid to sue Klayman for his lengthy history of libel and defamation. Klayman is so sue-happy, he might just sue himself if he’s in the mood to do so.
UPDATE: Klayman once sued his own mother, so suing himself is not entirely out of the question.