Oct 30 2008
Hagan Suing Dole Over “Godless” Ad
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan filed a lawsuit Thursday against rival Elizabeth Dole, accusing the Republican incumbent of defamation and libel for running a television ad that questions Hagan’s ties to an atheist political group.
Hagan filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court after Dole declined to remove the ad from the air by a noon deadline.
“Each airing of the advertisement further injures (Hagan’s) good name and reputation in the community,” Hagan’s attorneys wrote in the complaint.
Dole campaign spokesman Dan McLagan dismissed the lawsuit as a “silly political gimmick.”
Dole’s campaign had called Hagan’s earlier warning of a lawsuit an empty threat, and her attorneys said in a letter the ad simply states facts.
“Your client may not like that the ad publicly disseminates information she would prefer to keep quiet in these days before the elections, but the ad is 100% factually accurate and truthful,” the attorneys wrote.
And that’s the bottom line. It is truthful. As I said yesterday, the ad is somewhat misleading, because Hagan is not an atheist and I think it infers that, but it doesn’t lie about the fund raiser she attended. She was there and it was hosted by a former board member of “Godless Americans PAC” and she did accept a couple of thousand dollars from that host. Hagan doesn’t have a leg to stand on with this lawsuit. She shouldn’t have gone to the event. It was a stupid decision on her part and the Dole camp is taking advantage of it.
Hagan has made a counter ad:
Her counter to Dole’s accusations are fine, but there is one thing I take issue with. The Dole ad didn’t fake Hagan’s voice at the end. That woman at the end who says “There is no God” is the same woman who was speaking in the ad earlier. It’s the same voice. Share
