Something else we're losing...

...it seems, is the right to hold public officials to account in court for their attempts to destroy our reputations as punishment for criticizing them.

Los Angeles, California (AP, July 3) - A judge dismissed a libel lawsuit filed against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by a woman who accused him of groping her. She said the campaign falsely labeled her a convicted criminal.

Rhonda Miller, 53, charged that Schwarzenegger and his campaign intentionally defamed her after she held a news conference the day before last year's recall election and claimed the actor had lifted her shirt and assaulted her on a movie set. ...

Hours after her news conference, a Schwarzenegger campaign spokesman sent an e-mail to reporters directing them to a court Web site to search for records of a Rhonda Miller whose history included prostitution, drug crimes and disorderly conduct. She turned out to be a different Rhonda Miller.

The campaign, that is, responded to an allegation that their candidate had acted wrongfully by falsely smearing the accuser. You'd think that would be something for which they could and should be held accountable. But, no:

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Robert L. Hess ruled that because Miller held a news conference to broadcast her allegations against Schwarzenegger, she was a limited public figure.

As a result, not only did she have to prove the claims were false, she had to prove by "clear and convincing" evidence that Schwarzenegger or his campaign communications director, Sean Walsh, who sent the message, knew the charges were false when they made them. That higher standard was not met, the judge said.

"This case presents an arguable failure to further investigate where a reasonable, prudent person might have done so," Hess said. But, he added, "the court is not persuaded that it presents a purposeful avoidance of the truth."

So to sum up: Because Miller let the press know about her experiences with Ahnold, she became a "limited public figure" - how's that for a bizarre bit of legalistic hair-splitting - which required her in her suit to meet a toweringly high standard of proof which the Schwarzenegger campaign could evade simply by issuing smears without first making any attempt to find out if they were true or not.

Summing up the summing up: Accuse the fat cats and you open yourself up to a smear campaign for which, effectively, they can't be held accountable.