Sunday, August 2, 2009

Hey General, how about an apology?

As if the Palin family hasn't been put through enough already, an Alaskan CNN stringer decided to spread the lie that Todd and Sarah Palin were getting a divorce, based on the "reporting" of a rabidly anti-Palin blog, Immoral Minority. According to Conservatives4Palin, blog-owner Gryphen is a personal friend of CNN's Dennis Zaki, along with some other notorious Trig truthers. Head over to C4P for the full story.

I first learned of this latest filth on Facebook yesterday, ironically from an alleged conservative and decorated General; someone I'd previously held in high esteem. This gentleman had been a frequent guest on FOX, particularly during the worst phases of the Iraq War, and I always enjoyed listening to his insights.

Disappointingly, it appears that he is also a member of the right's Palin-bashing bandwagon. In a rush to judgment based on an unconfirmed accusation, the General sent out an email on Facebook in which he first chastised Palin as a "quitter" and then announced the break-up of her marriage without consulting any legitimate sources.

I immediately headed to the C4P site, found an excellent, well-researched report disproving the blogger's false accusations and responded back to the General:

This story is a hoax. And I do not consider Palin a quitter when she was target of the Cloward-Piven strategy and a concerted effort of DNC operatives and the left to destroy her. $500K in legal fees for bogus ethics complaints is a lot for us non-elitists.

He replied with the following:

Yes it is as far as we know.

That was it! No apology for aiding the psychotic MoveOn/Truther/DailyKos crowd in fomenting yet another reprehensible slander against a family that has already taken more abuse from the media than any other political family in recent memory? Nothing to say about the endless bogus ethics complaints either General? And here I thought you were a man of honor.

I gave him one more chance to elaborate by referring back to the C4P post:

Well perhaps this blogpost which links to many sources will help clarify.

But all I got back was this:

We think it is a complete hoax on FB and the internet.

Well gee with all due respect sir, if you believe it is a hoax, why not send out a retraction email including Meg Stapleton's statement, which was also posted on Sarah Palin's Facebook page:

Yet again, some so-called journalists have decided to make up a story. There is no truth to the recent “story” (and story is the correct term for this type of fiction) that the Palins are divorcing. The Palins remain married, committed to each other and their family, and have not purchased land in Montana (last week it was reported to be Long Island). Less than one week ago, Governor Palin asked the media to “quit making things up.” We appreciate that the more professional journalists decided to question this story before repeating it. Meg Stapleton

Admitting you were wrong to run with an unconfirmed story simply because you've condemned the former governor of Alaska as a quitter, and couldn't wait to apply that same title to her marriage would've been the honorable course of action -- not simply acknowledging that "we think it's a hoax." Even if the divorce rumors were true, gloating over others' personal heartbreak, particularly when there are five children involved, is dishonorable and cruel. I've lost a lot of respect for you, General because I held you to a much-higher standard. And given the fact that you of all people should be familiar with the radical tactics of the left (for whom the United States Military is also a favorite target), you should have known better.

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