Al Franken Is a Boring,

Al Franken Is a Boring, Passe Idiot - And a lucky one - Fox News' lawsuit against him was dismissed.

Ernest Svenson comments:

"Fox, and its lawyers, seem to have bungled quite badly --losing not only the battle but perhaps also the larger war. In the wake of the lawsuit, Franken's publisher, Penguin Group, added 50,000 copies to the publication run, which had originally called for 270,000 copies. Penguin also moved up the book's release date from September to last Thursday. The book is currently the #1 bestseller at Amazon.com.

Franken, was obviously pleased by the first round victory (the court simply denied Fox's request for a preliminary injunction). He was also pleased with the performance of all of lawyers involved: 'In addition to thanking my own lawyers,' Franken said, 'I'd like to thank Fox's lawyers for filing one of the stupidest briefs I've ever seen in my life.'

I didn't see the briefs so I can't comment on that, but I did read the complaint that was filed in state court and I can say it was, not only devoid of legal merit, but also highly unprofessional. I invite you to read the complaint, in particular the allegations in paragraph 77. It is obvious, to me at least, that this lawsuit was brought because of the documented disputes between Franken and Bill O'Reilly. Clearly, the two men don't like each other, and at least one of them may have been openly rude to the other."

Of course, many lefty blogs are pitching this case as a setback for the conservative media.

Hogwash. It's a setback for Bill O'Reilly. And attenuating O'Reilly's incessant browbeating yammer can only be good for conservatism.

Posted by Mitch at August 25, 2003 08:40 AM