Michele Bachman BFF Bradlee Dean Sues NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent Newspaper

Michele Bachmann BFF and "preacher" friend Bradlee Dean - a certifiable lunatic, in my opinion who has definitely blimped out big time compared to his younger and cuter days - has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent Newspaper. Apparently, the in my view mentally challenged Dean has taken offense with news coverage that has stated that Dean supports the execution of gays. His case is based on the equivalent of a debate over the number of angels that can stand in the tip of a needle. Dean is on record as lauding Islamic extremists who apply Islamic law to execute gays, but somehow in Dean's small and simple mind, lauding those who execute gays isn't the same as supporting the execution of gays. Both MSNBC and the Minnesota Independent are standing by their stories and blowing off Deans possibly attention getting lawsuit. The down side of the lawsuit, of course, is that it will underscore the unsavory elements of Bachmann's religious extremist supporters. It's one thing to be a Bible beater and something far different to be an extremist endorsing murder and violence, especially in the wake of the horrors in Norway a week ago. Fellow Bilerico contributor, Jillian Weiss looks at this batshitery from the untethered Dean. Here are highlights:
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Bradlee Dean, the controversial heavy metal minister of the anti-gay organization "You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International," filed a lawsuit yesterday in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The suit alleges defamation and false light invasion of privacy against NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent Newspaper and its reporter, Andy Birkey. The suit seeks $50 million in damages.
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According to the suit, Dean is upset about this article from May, 2010 in the Minnesota Independent:GOP-Linked Punk Rock Ministries Says Executing Gays Is 'Moral'. The article quotes Dean as saying the following on his radio show:
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Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America." This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.
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If America won't enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that, that is what you are seeing in America."
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The bottom line is this... they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator. On average, they molest 117 people before they're found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?"
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In the lawsuit, Dean does not deny making these statements, but says he told the Independent's reporter that he does not advocate execution of gays. He also says Rachel Maddow repeated the Independent's allegations. Although he admits that she noted that Dean had said that he doesn't advocate execution of gays, the lawsuit says that she was insufficiently sincere in making this disclaimer.
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The rambling complaint also alleges that the defendants, by broadcasting Dean's statements, "sought to significntly harm the 'big political prize' which they loathe, Christian conservative presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, who they sought to link to Plaintiffs. Congresswoman Michelle Backmann [sic] is regularly and maliciously disparaged, defamed and held in a false light on many other NBC and MSNBC cable shows, including but not limited to the broadcasts of television hosts Chris Mathews, Ed Schultz, and Lawrence O'Donnell. In sum, by destroying Plaintiffs, Defendants Maddow, MSNBC and NBC sought to destroy Bachmann, a Christian conservative presidential candidate who they despise and hate for her religious and political beliefs."
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Dean's lawsuit has a very tough row to hoe. If Dean is, as he seems to be, a public figure by virtue of his relentless public relations campaign to tout his anti-gay ministry and his success in his attempts to achieve media coverage, then the law will require him not only to prove negligence by NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent and its reporter, but also "actual malice," meaning that they knew the statements to be false and defamatory and intended to harm him. Since the evidence seems to point to the fact that Dean did, in fact, say what he is alleged to have said on his radio program, and he did not deny it in his suit, then he cannot prove an essential element of his claims -- that the media coverage was false.
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I would imagine that the Bachmann camp is livid over this lawsuit. It's just not what she needs right now, to be lumped together with a rabid anti-gay publicity hound who is claiming that everyone is out to get him because he is "Michelle Backmann's" number one fan.
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In my view, Bradlee Dean has long been in need of a serious mental health intervention. But, then, the same is true for Michele Bachmann and her husband "Marcia" Bachmann.