Hate Monger Goes Bananas

Jay over at Stop the ACLU alerted me to this one - it is an amazing clip. Fred Phelps goes totally bonkers on CNN after losing the lawsuit today.

This is a narrow but very important distinction. This is not about Fred Phelps and his family members right to free speech. They intentionally, very deliberately, inflicted emotional distress on a family not in the public sector. (Slightly different rules apply to public figures.) I probably would have gone after them for libel/slander - but the use of "intentionally inflicting emotional distress" may have been even better. You may have a right to swing your fist in the air, but that right stops at another person's nose. I think (hope) the appeal by Phelps will fail because of the very narrow scope of what the plaintiff used to go after Phelps. But enjoy Phelps' meltdown. (Jay has some good comments going over at his place as well.)