Thread by @joshgerstein

HAPPENING NOW: Closing statements beginning in Palin v. NY Times libel case in Manhattan federal court. Ken Turkel is closing for Palin. Earlier: politi.co/3oFsb9E

Turkel says Palin accepted ‘insults’ & ‘jokes’ during 2008 presidential race, but by time of NYT editorial in 2017 things had changed. 'The line had to be drawn at some point,’ Turkel said. 'We can disagree but you can’t say false things. That’s where the line gets drawn.'

Turkel claims that by 2017 Palin was powerless or near powerless to rebut the NYT. 'She did not have the same platform in 2017 as she had in 2008 or even in 2011 when the Tucson massacre occurred,’ he says.

Turkel ridicules NYT’s explanations for not putting Palin’s name in the corrections (a fairly standard policy across the media, regardless of its merits).

Turkel: 'Those types of nonsensical explanations are why we’re here. They’re indicative of an arrogance and a sense of power that’s uncontrolled and for which Gov. Palin’s only remedy is to use our system here.'

'An entity as large as the new York tiems company controls every aspect of this dialogue,’ Palin attorney Turkel says.

Turkel also claims case is not about money, but later acknowledges all civil cases are. ‘But that’s not why we’re here,’ he says. Hasn’t said why we are here, though, yet. [It’s either to vindicate Palin, or stick it to the NYT, or perhaps to change libel law?]

Turkel now trying to turn Bennet’s both-sides impulses into a strike at Palin. Trial suggested an overcorrection, after that initial impulse failed to find violent rhetoric on left, led to stronger language against Palin PAC than was warranted. Earlier: politi.co/3B7aS6s

Turkel derides NYT editorial page staffer Phoebe Lett, saying her job was research, to ‘entertain the guests and do some minimal fact checking.'

Turkel mocks NYT lawyers’ contention that a slur against Sarah PAC didn’t implicate Palin. Turkel: 'We don’t call McDonalds’ Ray Kroc’s hamburger store, because it’s a corporation. Sarah PAC--everybody refers to it as Sarah Palin’s Political Action Committee.'