For those of you who had any doubt as to why I feel that I must be very public about what Mr. Boyce and his cohorts at WABC did to me the other night at the bookstore, I hope this audio from Mark Levin's show (11/12/07 - starts about 1:3O in) removes any doubt. Here's what Levin said.
"I'm actually thinking of bring a civil suit against one individual who disrupted the event. You know these events cost a great deal of money. They cost a great deal of money in terms of promoting them on the radio. They cost a great deal of money ah for people to show up. to have somebody come with the purpose of inciting, not free speech, but going on private property at a private event for the purpose of inciting some kind of an event and promoting himself. I'm researching that now, I'll let you know how that goes and then lying about it publicly and making false statements which in my view is slanderous. We'll look at that too. We're gonna look at all of it."
For those of you who offer the advice that 99.99 percent of the time you should never discuss the details of a lawsuit or potential lawsuit publicly, I concur with you. However, this is the exception and I'll explain why I believe that to be the case.
First, the law is the law. It is what it is not what I may wish it to be. I can only address the actions of Mr. Boyce, Hannity, Levin, etc... within the context of the law and knowing the elements of the torts in question, that is what I do. I do not like lawyers who "spray and pray." I do like lawyers who are carefully skilled marksmen who focus on the bullseye. Do I wish the law and certain protocols were different? Of course. But the law is the law and I will hold them accountable within that context and that context only.
Second, the best way to protect myself, safety and otherwise, especially considering that I got attacked at a bar over a year ago by two people who claimed that they were attacking me because they saw me at the Hannity/Coulter event is with sunlight.
Third, unless you've been living on another planet over the past 20 years and missed the Willie Horton ads, the attacks on Clinton, the attacks on Gore, the swiftboating of John Kerry, etc... you might want to learn something. The right wing media empire (worth billions of dollars) WILL attack with lies, smears, personal character assassinations, etc... designed to intimidate and silence.
Fourth, if I remain silent, I believe I will get swiftboated. Yesterday, WABC's Mark Levin falsely accused me of a) disrupting an event; b) said I came with the "purpose of inciting"; c) "Lying about it publicly"; and d) "making false statements." Instead I MUST stand up and fight back publicly.
Now yes I often go to rallies, political events, speeches, etc... And yes I often go because public events can persuade the general public at large. The questions people ask don't make the difference unless the responder allows them to.
Now if me going to public events is something that matters little to you, so be it. If me going to public events is something you admire, so be it. If me going to public events is something that a very small handful of you envy because you lack the spine to put yourself out there, so be it. If me going to public events is something you pity me for because of whatever excerpts you read in your Psychology 101 textbook, so be it. I am NOT the issue here, what Boyce and cohorts did IS.
The mere fact that I got attacked again last night should suggest to you that they know they've got a big problem and that their lawyers probably chewed them out behind closed doors yesterday. But since they can't deal with the facts that I was there over 2 hours, was peaceful and non disruptive, never spoke to Hannity, never got spoken to by any member of security, never asked to leave the store by any member of the establishment, and that Boyce, on his own cell phone no less, makes a false call to the police in an attempt to arrest me because of a question he thought I was going to ask (Keep in mind I never asked Hannity a question) is the issue. Let's keep our eye on the ball.
BIG UPDATE: Levin actually released a response about me on his website.
DAILY KOS KOOK FULL OF CRAP
A regular Lib caller to Mark’s show, DaveFromQueens, had a brief encounter with Mark Levin at the Huntington book signing event and posted his story on the the kook fringe Lib site, Daily Kos.
Dave, or whatever his name is, is lying about his conversation with me. As I left the podium and headed for the book-signing area, he called to me. I stopped, and he handed me Army recruitment brochures and asked me if I would join the Army. Now, Dave, who is a regular lib caller to my show, knows I have heart disease and had bypass surgery; he also knows I am 50 years old. So, this was just another idiot stunt that makes guys like him think they’ve actually done something cool. I looked him straight in the eyes and immediately said to him, "I will join if you do." He wasn’t sure how to reply. Eventually he said, "Ok, if you agree to go to Afghanistan with me." I had no idea what he meant by such a stupid comment — as if you can join the Army and pick your deployment. But then I moved on.
I see that now Dave has resorted to lying by embellishing what he said for the Daily Kos kooks. He has fabricated an entirely different exchange. He says he said to me he would join if we went to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden, and so forth. That was never said. He’s a liar. As for the rest of his post, I have no idea what occurred. I was too busy speaking with the patriots who had come to the book-signing.
If, in fact, the owner of the Book Revue dumped on the folks who attended the book-signing, I will denounce him and urge my audience to never shop there again. I will try to get to the bottom of this.
The owner of Book Revue, Rich, just spoke to Mark Levin and made the following comment:
"I never met this gentleman. I have no idea who he is. I am not taking political sides, we sell books and make available all points of view. I was happy to do the event to sell the book. I was happy to see all of the people who came to the event. It went very smoothly and we appreciate their business. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false."
Mark encourages his audience to continue to shop at Book Revue.