Obama Tangles With Online Pervert

MARCH 4--Senator Barack Obama is threatening legal action against a self-described pedophile who has posted photos of the Democratic politician's young daughters on a web site that purports to handicap the 2008 presidential campaign by evaluating the "cuteness" of underage daughters and granddaughters of White House aspirants.

In a February 26 letter to the web site's operator, an Obama lawyer demanded the removal of a photo of the Illinois senator's two daughters, noting that the image's inclusion on a site advocating pedophilia "is not simply defamatory, but is a criminal act." Robert Bauer, general counsel for Obama for America, also demanded that references to Obama and his family be scrubbed from the site and that a link to the candidate's web site also be removed.

A copy of the Bauer letter can be found below.

Responding to the legal demand, the site's owner, who identifies himself as Lindsay Ashford, deleted the photo of Obama's children, Malia, 8, and Sasha, 5. However, he continues to link to Obama's campaign web site and refer to the politician and his family, claiming that his comments are "laudatory," not defamatory.

On his creepy web site, puellula.com, which is registered from a Panamanian address, Ashford notes that his Latin nickname translates to "lover of little girls." He claims to "have been bestowed with the gift of girllove. I have chosen to unmask here because I have a very strong conviction that I should not be forced to hide my sexual orientation." (3 pages)