McClatchy media empire faces lawsuit over false claims in Obama "birther" report

Author and U. S. Senate candidate Andy Martin has sent McClatchy attorneys a letter documenting false claims in an article by Steve Thomma which tryies to smear citizens who question Barack Obama's missing birth certificate. "They lie, we sue," Martin said. "Maybe my lawsuit will be the one that puts McClatchy in bankruptcy."

NEWS FROM:
ANDY MARTIN
Republican for U. S. Senator/2010
“He Works for the People of Illinois”
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-ANDY
Toll-free fax (866) 707-ANDY
Web site: http://www.AndyforUSSenator.com
E-mail: mailto:AndyforIllinois@aol.com

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www.MarkKirk.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BANKRUPT MCCLATCHY MEDIA EMPIRE FACES LIBEL LITIGATION OVER FALSE CLAIMS IN OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE "REPORT"

(CHICAGO) Republican U. S. Senate candidate and bestselling Obama author Andy Martin announced Friday, July 31st that he has sent a libel notice and threat of a lawsuit to the bankrupt McClatchy media empire.

Martin wrote: "Obama: The Man Behind The Mask."

"McClatchy published a 'news' report about me in which they claimed I had filed lawsuits that do not exist, and in which they claimed I made arguments that do not exist. It is journalistic malpractice of the most blatant kind. They sent me an e-mail a few minutes before the article went to press, and then claimed I "failed to respond." These types of gutter tactics are what have destroyed the print media. That these lies are published to protect Barack Obama confirms that Obama and the mainstream media are going to crater at the same time," Martin said. "If our demand is left unresolved, we expect to file suit next week and place the facts before a court of law, not McClatchy's 'court' of lies."

Martin's libel letter follows:

ANDY MARTIN
Republican for U. S. Senator/2010
“He Works for the People of Illinois”
Suite 4406, 30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-ANDY
Toll-free fax (866) 707-ANDY
Web site: http://www.AndyforUSSenator.com
E-mail: mailto:AndyforIllinois@aol.com


Please donate:

www.AndyforUSSenator.com


Blogs:

www.AndyforUSSenator.com
www.AndyforUSSenator.blogspot.com
www.AndyforUSSenator.wordpress.com

www.MarkKirk.us


July 31, 2009


Steve Thomma
McClatchy Newspapers
via e-mail

with copy to:

Karole Morgan-Prager, Esq.
McClatchy Legal Department
2100 Q Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
Via fax (916) 321-1964


NOTICE OF DEFAMATION/LIBEL AND DEMAND FOR RETRACTION


Dear Steve:

Last night your grossly unprofessional and misleading news report popped up on my computer. The story about so-called "birthers" is replete with false claims and misleading attributions. The article is false, defamatory and libelous as regards to me.

The article was obviously published with reckless disregard for the truth because it refers to nonexistent lawsuits and nonexistent claims in those imaginary lawsuits. It is hard to think of any journalistic behavior more "reckless" than outright lies.

Most importantly, you tried to use "ambush" journalism to avoid printing any responses from the people you misquote.

You wrote what prints out as a 6-page story, which obviously took a lot of time writing and reflects reporting with other sources such as professors, etc. with whom you spoke on the phone. But you never contacted me until just before you published your story. You then included the false claim "Martin didn’t respond to requests for comment."

You sent me an e-mail at 3:58 P.M. Your story was published at 9:29 P.M. Thus, you sent me an e-mail at the end of the day, but no phone call of the type you used for your "pro-Obama" and "pro-conspiracy" sources, and claim that a last-minute e-mail was sufficient to reflect no response to a request for "comment."

Is it any wonder mainstream journalists are thought of as worse than garbage? Or that your company is bankrupt? No reasonable person who reported a story for days and used phone calls to contact favorable sources would wait until the last minute to send an e-mail seeking "comment." You deliberately tried to prevent comments so you could claim there was no response. I hope you didn't learn that kind of gutter tactics in journalism school. Maybe you did. Why is why they are no longer called schools of "journalism."

You have accused me of "seeing conspiracies." I have never alleged any conspiracy involving the birth certificate. As you do admit, there is a document that Obama is refusing to release. That document contains information that is not on the "birth certificate" Obama has published.

You falsely claim that I charged that "Obama was a foreigner…" I have never made that claim. The only statement I made about Obama's foreign origins, which was his father was a Kenyan national and U. K. citizen, was admitted to by Obama himself.

There is an important distinction between the two "birth" documents: the original 1961 birth certificate is an actual, typewritten piece of paper. The "certificate" Obama has produced is merely laser-printed output from a computer database. It is not a "copy" of anything; it is merely a printout of data in a database. Why will Obama not authorize release of the original piece of paper? What is Obama hiding? You don't even ask the question, let alone press the Obamabots for an answer.

Last week CNN "reported" the original certificate had been destroyed. CNN was trying to discredit their own commentator, Lou Dobbs. Hawai'i officials then debunked CNN and said nothing had been destroyed. Funny that embarrassing incident was left out of your story. Why was CNN publishing blatant lies based on false claims of "research?"

Bill O'Reilly of Fox News said he had a "copy" of the original. More lies. Why?

How is seeking access to the original birth certificate a conspiracy claim on my part?

You claim "Martin's filed several lawsuits accusing Obama of hiding a foreign birth. None succeeded." In point of fact, I filed a single lawsuit in the Hawai'i courts, and that case is pending currently in both the trial court and Hawai'i Supreme Court. My single lawsuit never accused Obama of "hiding a foreign birth." You deliberately printed lies to discredit me politically and professionally and to juice up your story.

You claim I have a "history" of inappropriate remarks, but point to a 25 year-old lawsuit where you admit the claims attributed to me were debunked. As a consumer advocate, I have filed and won many landmark public interest lawsuits over the past 40 years, see www.AndyMartin.com. Why pick out a single lawsuit and one-sided, isolated allegations in a 25 year-old lawsuit? Is that balanced reporting?

You print the lie because the lie is better than admitting the truth: you have no evidence to sustain your lies about me in a single lawsuit that took place 25 years ago. Don't you have anything newer to smear me with than 25 years old? Or were you just fed at the trough of Obama's desperate dirt diggers?

Likewise, I have never run for office in Connecticut. Another Thomma lie.

If you want to know why people increasingly don't trust Obama, and why you may be out of a job one of these days, it is because of deliberate lies published by mainstream media intended to protect Obama from the truth about who he really is. The facts: he is hiding his 1961 birth certificate because he does not want the American people to know the truth about his real origins.

For you to falsely attribute nonexistent lawsuits to me, and to falsely attribute nonexistent allegations in those lawsuits to me, is both disgraceful and a reason why McClatchy newspapers are being tuned out by their readers. You were trying to discredit me precisely because I have restricted myself to the facts and to the search for truth. If only you had a shred of my integrity, McClatchy might not be staring a libel lawsuit in the face next week.

There is an interesting story as to why Obama is hiding a vital document of American history; he is indeed the "Man Behind the Mask" as I wrote in my book. But you did your best to conceal that story in a pile of lies. For shame.

You also try to suggest that "birthers" are somehow linked. I have never met any of the individuals you mention, and have spoken at length with only one, when I cautioned him not to file his lawsuit. Yet out of this you suggest a nonexistent "right-wing conspiracy." The truth: there is no conspiracy. There is only missing evidence that Obama refuses to produce.

I will give you 24 hours to print both an apology, disclaimer and correction on page one of all of your chain newspapers. Or your bankrupt media firm can start paying the lawyers to defend your lies.

Sincerely yours,

Andy Martin

AM:sp