Lindsay Ashford, a self-professed pedophile and “Lover of Little Girls”, has posted photos of Senator Barack Obama’s two young daughters on his website, describing them as an “angelic duo”. Obama has threatened legal action against Ashford for handicapping the 2008 campaign by judging the “cuteness” of several underage daughters and granddaughters of presidential candidates.

Ashford’s site also said, “I have decided to make my predictions based upon what lovely First Daughter we can look forward to watching grow up for four to eight years.” The underage daughters of John Edwards, Sam Brownback, George Allen, Rick Santorum, and the granddaughters of Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Mitt Romney were all included on the site. Ashford also stated that Clinton and Kerry had “serious trouble” because they had “adult daughters”. Speaking to ABC News from Costa Rica (guess what he was doing there), Ashford said of Obama, “It’s odd that he’s the only one who is making a fuss about it, perhaps because he’s now running for president and doesn’t want anything to make him tumble along the way.”

First Amendment lawyer Jonathan Katz is shocked that Obama is threatening to take action against the pedophile. Katz says, “If Obama knows that his lawyer is doing this, then that’s one reason not to vote for him. These are clear free speech issues.”

Lawrence G. Walters, a lawyer who has handled many cases involving pornography and the Internet, stated; “Individuals can make comments about the candidates and the candidates’ children without running afoul of the law until someone crosses the line into actual or criminal activity. For better or worse, pedophiles retain their free speech rights. If he’s a professed pedophile and if he says, ‘Let’s try to find these kids,’ then it could be in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy, then he may be liable.”

Obama’s counsel, Robert Bauer, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ashford on February 26, stating that the use of the photos “is not simply defamatory, but is a criminal act,” and that Obama reserved the right to “pursue civil remedies and criminal referral.” Ashford took down the photos, but asserted his First Amendment rights in a letter to Bauer.

Ashford says his intentions were innocent. “I didn’t write anything more than that they’re pretty. I didn’t write that I want to take their knickers off. … There’s not even a hint that I wanted to stalk them or anything like that.” First Amendment lawyers say it’s doubtful Bauer would win in a court of law against Ashford due to that fact.

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