Republican Tennessee state Senator Stacey Campfield doesn’t know how to admit when he’s wrong, apparently, even when he’s being sued for it. After posting lies about a Democratic Party candidate that was running for the state House on his website and being slammed with a $750,000 libel lawsuit, Campfield continues to arrogantly assert that absolutely none of the blame for what he posted belongs to him.

In 2008, Campfield stated on his blog that a Democrat running for a position in the state House, Roger Byrge, had a criminal record that included drug offenses for both possession and dealing. Unfortunately for Campfield, his information source, and his information, were both false, and although he didn’t even put forth the slightest effort to check the legitimacy of the allegations, he absolutely refuses to concede that in may have been slanderous to post information like that to his website. The source of the information, House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, along with the Tennessee Republican Party, were both sued as well, and settled the case out-of-court. The settlement remains undisclosed, so the dollar amount is not available for comparison to this lawsuit.

The House race, which Byrge lost by less than a measly 400 votes, was against Republican candidate Chad Faulkner.

During his deposition, when asked if he was sorry for posting false statements, he stated, “I’m sorry Glen Casada was mistaken in his report, yes,” indicating that he’s more sorry that the man wasn’t a drug dealer than he is for publishing lies about him. He went on to say that even if he loses the case, he won’t be paying, as he only makes around $30,000. In a step up from certain other Republicans, he even offered to show his tax returns to show he couldn’t possibly afford the lawsuit.





To continue the trend of intellectual dishonesty, Campfield also said that he didn’t feel like it was his responsibility to check or corroborate his sources before posting the lies. The AP reports on his mind-blowing stupidity:

Campfield was asked in the deposition whether he has “a right to disparage or demean, or to call someone a criminal when that statement’s not true.” Campfield answered: “I believe legally, probably, there is the right to do that because I’ve had it happen to me.” He was later challenged on whether there are limits to what he could publish. “You can do anything,” Campfield responded. “That’s freedom of speech. The newspaper reports on things that I do all the time.”

Those of you that recognize the name should feel absolutely no surprise at the latest bit of cognitive defecation from this Tennessee Republican; you may remember him from other stories in the media relatively recently, such as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and another bill designed to limit the welfare benefits of parents whose children’s grades are suffering.