So, David is replying to the post I made called "Hairy Footed Pagens" and when he says they were "unfairly maligned" he means the band America. Who actually did write some very wonderful pop songs that put much of today's music to shame...mainly because the guys in America sang and played their instruments really well. 

The thing around here is, the guys here have all known each other for a very long time and so some of the jokes may seem...odd and like you had to be there kind of stuff. So, don't worry if we seem a bit nonsensical at times, it is only because we are joking about jokes we've made now countless times over 20 something years or so. 

So, when you read David's reply, it looks like he is saying he thinks hairy footed Pagens have been unfairly maligned but the truth is if he was actually talking about hairy footed Pagens he would have said they were fairly maligned...because our resident hairy footed Pagen is Mick and really you can never malign him enough. 

I pretend to give Mick a hard time, he pretends to be a irascible drunken hobbit from the Shire (he's really a kind and gentle bunny rabbit of a man that sleeps in a pile of cuddly hedgehogs), he complains to David that I am too mean to him on occasion, David tries to sooth him with a kind word. Everybody here is in on the joke.