There is so much irony in this complaint, I’m afraid trying to describe it all might trigger a seizure. The top of the Jankowicz suit lists three “especially destructive” falsehoods. They include, “Jankowicz intended to censor Americans’ speech,” “Jankowicz was fired from her position with the federal government,” and “Jankowicz wanted to give verified Twitter users, including herself, the power to edit others’ tweets.” …

“While incendiary, misleading, and lacking readily available context, much of what Fox said about Jankowicz on these subjects was not strictly defamatory,” the complaint reads, as it details things like the list of insults and Laura Ingraham mocking Jankowicz’s infamous Mary Poppins tweet (a “really bad Julie Andrews impersonation,” Ingraham said).

This is exactly what people feared about Jankowicz, that from a position of authority she would deem protected-but-pointed speech illegitimate. She additionally doesn’t seem to grasp that the Mary Poppins video was broadcast and re-broadcast precisely because her performance so completely bulls-eyed the general public’s fears about the type of personality that might be staffing a “nanny state.” For her to file this scary lawsuit in an effort to show that she was falsely depicted as “scary” is — am I allowed to say it’s funny? It is funny, isn’t it?

[I suspect this lawsuit intends to serve two purposes. First, Jankowicz wants attention in the media, which this lawsuit certainly will provide — for a little while, anyway. Second, she and her attorneys probably saw the settlement of the Dominion suit as a signal that Fox is inclined to throw money at plaintiffs to get them to go away. I predict much less success on that score for Jankowicz, especially since she clearly qualifies as a “public person” under Sullivan as a nominee for a prominent political office. — Ed]