Ralls Fights Tyranny (If Fans Pick Up Tab)

I told you last fall about left-wing cartoonist Ted Rall and his grudge against Chris Ware. Well, now he wants to sue Ann Coulter over a wisecrack she made at the Conservative Political Action Committee last week: “Iran is soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust,” she said, referring to that Iranian newspaper that’s trying to outpace the Danish for religious insensitivity to prove some sort of point. “So far, only Ted Rall, Garry Trudeau, and the NY Times have made submissions.”

Rall calls that “outright libel,” and over the weekend he asked his readers to pledge money if they agreed he should sue her, “since it costs about $6,000 to draft and file a libel lawsuit in New York.” Apparently, the readers came through, because this morning Rall reported that his lawyer says he has a case…but Rall’s not prepared to move forward unless his fans put up most of the money: “As months of depositions and discovery drag into years.. without continued public support I simply couldn’t afford to keep making the necessary motions and filings.” And thus this rather grandiose conclusion: “Whether or not this proxy battle for the soul of America takes place depends on the generosity of the American people and the depth of their contempt for neo-McCarthyite smear tactics against progressives.” Meanwhile, Editor & Publisher reports, Garry Trudeau takes it all in stride: “When asked Monday if he wanted to respond to Coulter’s comment, Trudeau told E&P via e-mail: ‘Nah.’” Then again, he doesn’t exactly need the publicity.

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