Mississippi mud slinging
by digby
This made my day. Conservative writer Charles C. Johnson is standing his ground against the GOP establishment — which he seems to believe wants to kill him. Why? Because he went down to Mississippi and fell for a bunch of local con men:
Johnson thrust himself into the middle of Mississippi’s tense political dispute earlier this month when he reported on Stevie Fielder, a self-proclaimed minister who claimed that Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-MS) campaign bribed black voters in the Republican runoff against tea party challenger Chris McDaniel.
Fielder was paid by Johnson for the story, which was strongly disputed by the Cochran campaign. Jim Hood, Mississippi’s Democratic attorney general, said Wednesday that his office is investigating whether or not Johnson paid Fielder to make a deliberately false claim.
Fielder, who’s already changed his story previously, “admitted he got paid $2,000 to lie,” according to Hood. Although it’s not a crime to pay someone to make a false statement, Hood’s office is looking into the source of the funds.
Fittingly, Hood’s comments were reported by Clarion-Ledger reporter Sam R. Hall, who’s become Johnson’s biggest journalistic adversary during the fallout over the runoff.
On Tuesday, in fact, Johnson vowed to sue Hall for defamation over an article on Johnson’s purportedly improper use of photographs from other news outlets.
Although he wouldn’t share the details, Hall told TPM in an email on Wednesday that the Clarion-Ledger had already received a letter from Johnson.
Johnson indicated that he sent the newspaper an email “outlining my request for correction which is required under Mississippi law” and that he’s also corresponded with the Clarion-Ledger’s executive editor, Brian Tolley.
Lulz. Getting involved in an internecine Mississippi political dispute is like those bozos who jump in the lion exhibit at the zoo to break up a cat fight.
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