Category: Sarah Palin

HOLY. FREAKING. CRAP.

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Just now got in off the road, returning from Ohio where my wife’s parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. On the way — quite literally writing “on the road,” since the trip was seven hours — I composed a long post that I’ll put up later tonight.

But that’s going to have to wait a while, because I just logged on and saw this by Ladd Ehlinger and this by Dan Riehl. Both Dan and Ladd called me yesterday while I was driving to Ohio, but the cell-phone reception on the road was sufficiently crappy that I was unable to understand what they were talking about. And then I caught this link via Dan’s blog and . . .

HOLY. FREAKING. CRAP.

The blog-war aspect of this incident rather dwindles into insignficance when measured against the apparent willingness of a Las Vegas radio station to allow Mike Tyson to spew such filthy and derogatory racial stereotypes. Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clark writes:

Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson is under fire for “deplorable” and “stomach-churning” graphic sexual descriptions in a local radio interview about Sarah Palin’s alleged fling with Glen Rice.
The website, Mediaite.com, also leveled criticism at “Gridlock” hosts Mitch Moss and Paul Howard, of ESPN affiliate KWWN-AM, 1100/ 98.9 FM, for finding humor in Tyson’s shocking take.
“The fact that someone convicted of sex crimes even talked about it in such disturbingly gross ways”… and “so violently like this over mass media” raises serious questions, wrote Mediaite columnist Frances Martel.
Moss, who also serves as “Gridlock’s” program director, and Howard “cackled and guffawed in harmony at Tyson’s deplorable comment,” according to Martel.

Does FCC know about this? How about AttackWatch? Now that I think of it, have we heard from Jill Filipovic, Jessica Valenti, Melissa McEwan or any of the other feminists? Because if Sarah Palin weren’t a Republican, I think they’d probably be outraged by this.

UPDATE: Catching up, I see Jim Hoft wondering:

Is this it?  Is there anything else they could say about Sarah Palin?

Dunno. But if there is, they’ll say it.

UPDATE II: Greta Van Susteren calls out Tucker Carlson by name:

I keep asking myself, why would Tucker allow this to be posted on his website?  . . .
Tucker has daughters and a wife and I would think he in particular would not want to be a purveyer of smut (and this is actually more, this is violence against women) and allow this to be posted on his website.
I emailed Tucker yesterday and asked him about it.  He did not reply.  I wanted to know what action he was going to take about it since I really did not want to blog about it and felt some urge to protect him.  24 hours have passed and I have not heard from Tucker and it is still on the front page of his website.
So…I am calling him out on this.  This is not about whether you are in favor of Governor Palin’s policies or not — this is about whether women should be treated this way and whether this is journalism.  It is also about the willingness to stand up to a friend when he or she has gone way over the top and this is one instance where a friend has gone way over the top.
Tucker can’t hide behind ‘this is news, it was said by Mike Tyson and we are simply reporting it.’  It is not news.  This denigrates women.   He knows that, I know that, you know that. . . .

Much much more at the link, explaining how a story about what Mike Tyson said became a story about how the Daily Caller reported it.

UPDATE III: Tammy Bruce slammed Daily Caller on Twitter, as did Jedediah Bila, while Sissy Willis wrote a whole post about it.

UPDATE IV: Linked by Da Tech Guy and now a Memeorandum thread.


Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, 1820-1863

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“A man whose willful violation of social rights led him to such an inglorious end.”
— Maj. Gen. S.J.R. Liddell, C.S.A., commenting on the death of Van Dorn

History teaches few lessons more useful than the tale of a great soldier, praised for his daring courage, the survivor of many a fearsome battle, who died so dishonorably as did Earl Van Dorn.

A West Point graduate and grand-nephew of Andrew Jackson, the Mississippi native distinguished himself as a hero of the Mexican War, where he served under Winfield Scott and was twice wounded, and twice promoted for gallantry in action at Cerro Gordo and at Mexico City. He subsequently fought against the Seminole and the Comanches, and was wounded four more times in action, including once with a Comanche arrow through his chest that nearly killed him.

Beyond his military accomplishments, Van Dorn was both a poet and an artist, as well as one of the nation’s finest horsemen, a romantic figure in a romantic age. His unquestionable battlefield courage ensured that his services would be most welcome when, upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he resigned from the U.S. Army and offered his sword in defense of his native state. Such was his outstanding reputation that, when Jefferson Davis was chosen as the president of the Confederacy, Van Dorn was chosen to replace Davis as commander of Mississippi’s state troops.

In January 1862, Van Dorn was appointed commander of all Confederate forces west of the Missippi River and led his army on an advance into Arkansas that culiminated in the Battle of Pea Ridge. Successful in the first day’s fight that nearly broke the Union army under Gen. Curtis, Van Dorn’s army was defeated on the second day and forced to retreat. Ordered to cross the river to unite with Albert Sidney Johnson’s army in western Tennessee, Van Dorn arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Shiloh. In October 1862, Van Dorn was defeated when he led some 20,000 Confederates in a deadly frontal assault on an entrenched Union force at Corinth, Mississippi.

Brought before a court of inquiry to answer for the Corinth debacle, Van Dorn protested that he had no personal wealth, having spent his life in service to his country, and therefore his only real possession was his reputation, “without which life to me were as valueless as the crisp and faded leaf of autumn.” He was acquitted of all charges.

It is extraordinarily remarkable that Van Dorn, having made so much of his military reputation, would have later lost in life as he did. Alas, he had a reputation for more than courage under fire.

Though married for some 20 years, and the father of two children, Van Dorn was very much a ladies’ man, and his female admirers got more than poetry, paintings and compliments in return for their affections.

To put it quite bluntly, Earl Van Dorn was a serial adulterer. The handsome general was “the terror of ugly husbands,” as one contemporary phrased it, and it was this well-deserved reputation that destroyed him. Continue reading Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, 1820-1863 →

‘This Crazy Blogger, Stacy McCain’

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Crazy blogger at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Sept. 13, 2011

Dave Weigel quotes Creepy Joe:

Joe McGinniss is no longer surprised at the hate engendered by his new biography, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin. “Did you see this crazy blogger, Stacy McCain, saying he’s starting a legal fund for Todd Palin?” he asks. The blog post appeals for $25 donations to SarahPAC to “help defray Todd’s legal expenses when he shows up at McGinniss’s first book signing and pounds that scurvy worm into a bloody pulp.”

Don’t read the rest of it, unless you’re interested in a stale rehash of the familiar litany of blind-sourced smears. But do contribute generously:

TODD PALIN LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Because Creepy Joe Might Actually Get
the Ass-Whupping He So Richly Deserves

PREVIOUSLY:

How Much Does Glenn Beck Pay Brian Sack to Make Tasteless Sarah Palin Jokes?

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Image from GBTV

“Regardless what you think of her, this rumor stuff is getting absolutely ridiculous. I don’t believe Sarah Palin slept with Glenn Rice, and this rumor-mongering is unfair to her kids — Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig and Dunky. Now, according to the book, it was a one-night stand. It was supposed to be a two-night stand, but she bailed halfway through.”
— Brian Sack, GBTV, Sept. 15, 2011

The blogger at God and Country First:

Tonight Brain Sack made an extremely poor taste joke about Sarah Palin. Don’t we have enough of that crap in the lame stream? I am not going to pay $10.00 a month to hear more. Brian has made a few tasteless remarks the last few days. Tonight’s pushed me very close to canceling my account. I really think you should get rid of him, mostly because he is NOT funny. One more example of the lack of comedic talent from conservatives. . . .
Glenn, can you imagine the Palin family sitting around TV watching your show via Roku and expecting to hear healthy conservative truth, and then have to endure that tasteless joke from Brain Sack tonight.

God and Country First has the video clip, if you want to see Brian Sack introduced as the man who, according to Glenn Beck, is going to put Jon Stewart out of business — by making “woodpile” jokes about Republican women, we must presume. Continue reading How Much Does Glenn Beck Pay Brian Sack to Make Tasteless Sarah Palin Jokes? →

Todd Palin Defense Fund Update

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While I am grateful for the enthusiastic response to my suggestion that Sarah Palin’s supporters donate to create a legal defense fund for her husband, some of the commenters seem to be under the impression that I’m joking about this. But you see, as a veteran of 25 years in the news business, I understand the tangible publicity value of the Todd Palin “One Nation Joe McGinnis Ass-Whupping Tour.” And if you think about GOP primary voters, the benefits in terms of political strategy should be obvious enough. Imagine the headlines:

New York Post, Oct. 6, 2011
PAPA GRIZZLY
Author of Palin Smear Book Hospitalized,
Todd Charged After ‘Brutal’ NY Assault

Joe McGinniss underwent emergency surgery Wednesday night after police say the author was beaten senseless by Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s husband Todd at a Manhattan party where McGinniss was signing copies of his new book about the former Alaska governor.
“It was one of the most brutal attacks I’ve ever seen,” said Venona Wineglass, who was waiting in line to get her copy of the controversial anti-Palin book signed at the Upper West Side reception when, she said, Todd “came out of nowhere” and began punching McGinniss. “He was just like bam, bam, bam, and it took three guards to pull him off.”
While police charged Todd Palin with assault and resisting arrest, his wife was campaigning in South Carolina, two weeks after officially announcing her GOP presidential candidacy. Her campaign spokesman refused comment on the McGinniss incident, while the candidate — currently a distant third in polls, behind Rick Perry and Mitt Romney — told a rally in Spartanburg, S.C., that she wants to “focus on the issues important to ordinary Americans and not be distracted by the lamestream media.”
Surgeons at St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital expect McGinniss to be able to continue his book tour despite his injuries . . .

Politico, Oct. 12, 2011
Palin Passes Romney in New Poll

Sarah Palin has moved into second place among Republican presidential contenders, passing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the latest Rasmussen poll.
The former Alaska governor, whose late September announcement stunned nearly all political observers, was at 21% in the Rasmussen survey conducted Oct. 8-10, up nine points over a poll conducted just five days earlier, and ahead of Romney, whose support dropped to 16%. Texas Gov. Rick Perry remained in first place in the GOP field, according to Rasmussen, although his 32% number in the latest survey is down slightly from his previous 34%.
Several analysts attributed Romney’s dip in the polls to his statement last week condemning Todd Palin’s beating of Joe McGinniss . . .

Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 14, 2011
Palin’s Husband Arrested After
Second Assault on McGinniss

The husband of GOP presidential candidate Sarah Palin was arrested Tuesday after police say he attacked author Joe McGinniss at a Rittenhouse Square bookstore where McGinniss was signing copies of his controversial new “unauthorized biography” of the former Alaska governor.
Police Lt. Darnell Robinson said Todd Palin was arrested on charges of assault and resisting arrest after he suddenly rushed McGinniss at the Barnes & Noble where the author of “Rogue” had just begun reading from the book. It was the second such attack on McGinniss in the past two weeks, and Lt. Robinson said a police officer on duty was able to restrain Mr. Palin “after two or three punches.”
McGinniss suffered “multiple contusions and broken teeth,” according to a spokeswoman at University Hospital, where the author was treated and released. Mr. Palin was released on $50,000 bail after a hearing where municipal judge Vincent D’Anofrio ordered the Republican candidate’s husband to wear a radio-monitoring device pending another pre-trial hearing next month . . .

Media Matters, Oct. 15
Limbaugh Applauds McGinniss Beating;
‘Hit Him Again, Todd,’ Radio Host Says

Right-wing talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh yesterday endorsed Todd Palin’s repeated attacks on investigative journalist Joe McGinnisss, whose new book chronicles the genuine evil of Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
“Damn right, he deserved it,” Limbaugh said on his Wednesday show, calling Todd Palin an “American hero” after his second savage beating of McGinniss at a Philadelphia bookstore Tuesday.
“It’s about time some of these lowlife maggots like McGinniss learned they can’t just print lies about Republicans — hit him again, Todd!” Limbaugh said, introducing a Paul Shanklin parody song set to the tune of Michael Jackson’s 1982 song, “Beat It.”
Limbaugh also issued a challenge to what he called “femi-nazis,” demanding that they condemn McGinniss’s sexual innuendo against Sarah Palin . . .

Washington Post, Oct. 19
Palin Refuses to Condemn Husband’s
Attacks on ‘Smear Merchant’ McGinnis

Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she is not responsible for her husband’s assaults on the author of a controversial “unauthorized biography” of her, but refused to make a direct condemnation of Todd Palin’s beatings which have twice sent Joe McGinniss to the hospital.
“Todd is just Todd, you know,” Palin said during a Sunday appearance on “Meet the Press,” where she was repeatedly asked about her husband’s assaults on McGinniss. “I mean, he’s always been kinda protective of me, and I’ve tried to tell him he shouldn’t be beating on people like that but I guess . . . Well, he’s kinda got a bit of temper sometimes.”
However, Palin dismissed McGinniss’s book as the work of “a disgusting smear merchant trying to make money off a bunch of lies,” and said the headlines about her husband’s one-man war against McGinniss were “just a lamestream media tactic to distract people from the real issues that matter to America.” . . .

New York Times, Oct. 21
Palin Now First in GOP Field
Candidate Unexpectedly Surges in New Poll

Sarah Palin has moved to first place in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll of likely Republican primary voters, eclipsing former front-runner Rick Perry.
Palin’s unexpected surge — now with 37% support in the nationwide survey conducted Oct. 15-17 — comes despite a flurry of negative coverage of her campaign and the controversy surrounding her husband, Todd, who has twice made physical assaults against investigative journalist Joe McGinniss, author of a new book about the former Alaska governor.
“This completely defies conventional wisdom,” said longtime political analyst Larry Sabato, describing Palin’s gain as “freakish . . . maybe a statistical anomaly of some kind.”
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters in Manchester, N.H., chanted “Todd! Todd! Todd!” at a Thursday rally where Palin’s husband appeared briefly onstage with the new GOP front-runner. Vendors did a brisk business selling “Hit Him Again, Todd” T-shirts and bumper stickers at the mid-day event, where Sarah Palin said economic growth “remains the No. 1 focus of my campaign, despite all the smears and distractions from the lamestream media.” . . .

USA Today, Oct. 25
Author McGinniss in Seclusion,
Search for Todd Palin Continues

A nationwide manhunt for Todd Palin continued for a second day Monday, and author Joe McGinniss cancelled the remaining dates on his book tour after the husband of GOP front-runner Sarah Palin eluded an FBI dragnet.
Police say that Todd Palin’s “whereabout are still unknown” after he apparently removed a radio-monitoring device — ordered by a Philadelphia judge following Palin’s second beating of McGinniss Oct. 13 — sometime Sunday morning. The candidate’s husband had been scheduled to join her at an afternoon rally Sunday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but did not appear at the event. Palin campaign officials say they haven’t seen Todd since he left a Des Moines hotel without explanation that morning.
The mysterious disappearance came shortly after McGinniss appeared on “Meet the Press” and reiterated several of the accusations made in his controversial unauthorized biography of the former Alaska governor. McGinniss had been scheduled to appear at a Chicago book-signing party Monday afternoon, but cancelled the event after Todd Palin went missing and a red Ford Bronco, leased by the Palin campaign, was found abandoned in the parking lot of a commuter rail station in suburban Oak Park, Ill., Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin continued her four-day bus tour of Iowa. Now leading by double-digits in the latest Gallup/USA Today poll, Palin did not directly address the controversy surrounding her fugitive husband Tuesday night at a rally in Davenport, where an unexpectedly large crowd — estimated at more than 20,000 — waved signs with slogans like “Go Get Him, Todd!” and “We [Heart] First Dude.”
Sarah Palin told the cheering crowd “we have to keep focused on economic growth, putting an end to crony capitalism and fixing the mess in Washington, D.C.” She said supporters shouldn’t “be distracted by phony controversies ginned up by the lamestream media.” . . .

Now, this is merely a hypothetical and I grant that some readers may indulge a laugh at the mental image of Joe McGinniss flinching at every loud noise for fear of another brutal Todd Palin ass-whupping, but that’s not the same as me admitting it’s just a joke. This is known as the Stacy McCain Plausible Deniability Clause in the campaign journalism Code of Ethics, because whatever I may write about any candidate, the campaign can always offer the official response, “Oh, hell, it’s Stacy McCain — everybody knows he’s crazy,” and they’re automatically off the hook for whatever “sources close to the campaign” may have told me.

Pleading insanity is more than a legal tactic, of course. It’s also a valuable marketing tool. Let’s face it, this blog gets thousands of hits a day from people just clicking over out of curiosity: “What kind of crazy stuff has that fool written this time?”

Absolute gonzo has rarely been tried as a political strategy. However, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro, and if Todd Palin shows up at a Joe McGinniss book signing — just for a “friendly chat,” you see, rather than a felonious assualt — maybe some of y’all will realize that my “One Nation Ass-Whupping Tour” idea was only half-joking.

I’m not saying which half, though.

TODD PALIN LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Just in Case He Actually Needs It, IYKWIMAITYD

UPDATE: For the benefit of Andrew Sullivan readers.

The Todd Palin Legal Defense Fund

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Todd Palin helps his wife sign autographs after her Sept. 5 rally
in Manchester, N.H. (Photo by Peter Ingemi.)

A source who doesn’t need to hide behind a cloak of anonymity:

“This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife. His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and [said] that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.’”
— Todd Palin

During my trip to Wasilla last year, I told Todd Palin that if he had shot Levi Johnston, no jury in the world would have convicted him, and his wife’s poll numbers would have gone up.

Our conversation was informal and off-the-record, so readers are left to imagine Todd’s reaction, but certainly the Palins can’t be held responsible for every crazy thing a journalist says. (It was, after all, merely a hypothetical.) And neither can the Palins be blamed for what I’m suggesting now.

Joe McGinniss deserves The Mother of All Ass-Whuppings, and Todd Palin ought to give him exactly what he deserves.

So I’m asking readers to go make a $25 donation to SarahPAC to help defray Todd’s legal expenses when he shows up at McGinniss’s first book signing and pounds that scurvy worm into a bloody pulp.

Please give $25 to SarahPAC, so that we can bail Todd Palin out on that assault charge — and then fly him to the next Joe McGinniss book signing to deliver yet another brutal ass-whupping.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Just give $25 to SarahPAC, you see, and we’ll cover Todd Palin’s legal expenses and fly him to wherever Joe McGinniss appears in public, turning McGinniss’s book tour into a nationwide beatdown tour.

After McGinniss gets out of the hospital from his first ass-whupping, he’ll probably get a restraining order against Todd. Still, Random House will be forced to hire armed security to protect Creepy Joe because, hey, what’s a restraining order to an insulted husband who’s got thousands of loyal supporters donating $25 each to cover his legal expenses?

Bonus suggestion: Sarah PAC should hire a documentary crew to chronicle Todd Palin’s “One Nation Joe McGinniss Ass-Whupping Tour.”

Proceeds from sales of the DVD would go to defray Joe McGinniss’s medical bills. “Compassionate conservatism” and all that.

TODD PALIN FOR FIRST DUDE
Because Once His Wife Is President, He Can Start
Whupping Asses in the White House Press Corps

UPDATE: Linked by Da Tech Guy, God’s Own Crunk, Republican Redefined and Jay Tea at Wizbang — thanks!

Meanwhile, dismayed by the number of commenters who think I’m (merely) joking: TODD PALIN DEFENSE FUND UPDATE!

Somebody’s Taking My Advice?

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One hesitates to presume influence, especially when what one advises is just common-sense stuff that seems obvious. So yesterday I wrote that Republicans should “relentelessly expose the Solyndra scandal” and added:

GOP presidential candidates can help maximize the impact of exposure by making Solyndra the focus of their attacks on the incumbent’s policy agenda. We ought to hear the phrase “Solyndra scandal” in every stump speech, every press release and every Republican debate.

And that post ended with the suggestion that readers “e-mail it to your favorite local or national talk radio host, or Republican presidential candidates.” And about three hours later . . .

Joining GE in the pantheon on crony capitalism is another Obama favorite that has been in the news of late: Solyndra. The President hailed this “green energy” company in a speech last May as “the true engine of economic growth.” When he announced the $535 million guarantee to Solyndra, Vice President Biden said that investments like this are “exactly what the Recovery Act is all about.” (Dear God…If the failed Solyndra venture has been what it’s “all about,” then that explains a lot.) As I pointed out in my speech at the Reagan Ranch Center last February: “History has proven again and again, when government picks the winners and losers, we’re stuck with the losers, and we the taxpayers subsidize failure!” And that’s what we’re seeing now, as the FBI raids the solar energy company’s headquarters to glean more information after the company was handed half a billion dollars in “green energy” Stimulus funds from the American taxpayer only to later declare bankruptcy. More than one thousand Solyndra workers lost their jobs. Now as the truth comes out, we discover that the White House was heavily involved in the Department of Energy’s rushed decision to give the Stimulus funds to Solyndra, and they tried to move the money through so quickly they seem to have ignored concerns that the company was not viable. Why would they do this? Perhaps it’s because a large investor in the company (about 35%) is Obama campaign bundler George Kaiser. And with the way the deal is structured, Kaiser will get his debts paid before we the taxpayers see any relief. That is sickening. And that’s how it works: workers lose their jobs, wealthy political cronies stand a good chance of getting their money back, and the U.S. taxpayer gets the shaft. Again. . . .

You can read the whole thing. My silly suggestion that it was inspired by a blog post here was meant for laughs. Like I said, it’s common-sense stuff that seems obvious. So maybe this is just one of those “great minds think alike” situations. But remember that my advice was offered to “GOP presidential candidates,” which means . . .?

The Recklessness of Joe McGinniss

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Having already discussed his unspeakably vile “Jungle Fever” smear on Sarah Palin, now we learn — via Ace of Spades — that McGinniss expended considerable effort pursuing a story that depicted her father Chuck Heath as having created “a lynch mob mentality.”

Rob Port at Say Anything was contacted by McGinniss because Port’s father was an Alaska State Trooper involved in the investigation of a case where a school teacher molested several girls. The school board fired the principal of the school for failing to take action after receiving accusations against the teacher. Chuck Heath, himself a teacher and evidently a friend of the principal, felt that the principal got a raw deal and protested against the career-destroying termination.

When Rob Port declined to discuss the case (Rob’s father remains good friends with Chuck Heath and the Palin family) McGinniss then forwarded to Rob someone else’s e-mail account of the controversy that including the “lynch mob” accusation, as well as the claim that “Chuck Heath resorted to violence — death threats, veiled threats, verbal violence, the complete disregard for the welfare of the affected children — against board members (women only) who were trying to protect the children of the district.”

McGinniss then told Port that, unless his father was willing to give his side of the story, he would “have to pay attention” to that “version of events.” (Rob has posted the e-mail exchange in PDF form.)

Now, what McGinniss is doing here is a familiar reporting trick, using information gathered from one source as leverage to get further information from another source. But the way he’s going about is reckless and irresponsible. By transmitting a lengthy written account of this story from someone he says was “deeply involved” in the controversy, McGinniss risks exposing his source’s identity. He further runs the risk of a defamation accusation, by transmitting to a third party an accusation against Chuck Heath made to him by his original source.

McGinniss’s publisher will certainly have a lawyer go over his manuscript to ensure that it doesn’t put the publisher at risk of a libel claim. But I guaran-damn-tee you any competent lawyer would have a screaming fit to know that McGinniss had e-mailed to someone else this “lynch mob” story about Chuck Heath. Such things are not done.

Let me explain with a hypothetical example:

Suppose that someone tells me that Joe McGinniss has a habit of purchasing stray cats at the local animal shelter and then ritually torturing the cats to death. Now, if I want to pursue an article about Cat-Killer McGinniss, I can contact the animal shelter and ask if, indeed, he’s made multiple purchases of stray cats. But if the clerk at the animal shelter asks why I want to know this, I can’t tell the clerk about the allegations that McGinniss has inflicted heinous torture on the poor creatures at the Satanic altar in his basement. Because to repeat such unsubstantiated accusations might put me at risk of a slander suit.

OK, so I go down to the county courthouse and try to look up police reports, to see if maybe Joe McGinniss’s neighbors have filed any nuisance complaints about the pitiful howls of stray cats being hideously mutilated during the midnight coven gatherings where McGinniss and his fellow Servants of Darkness offer their bloody ritual homage to Beelzbub. But if the court clerk asks me why I’m searching the archives, I can’t say, “Oh, just trying to find the documentation of the ghastly crimes committed by Joe McGinniss, the Satanic Cat Torturer.” Again, this would put me at risk of a slander suit.

Perhaps the layman might say to a professional journalist in such a (hypothetical) situation, “Why not just start out by asking McGinniss himself if the accusations are true?” And my answer would be, “Of course, he’d deny it. Satanic cat-killers are all notorious liars.” Besides, asking McGinniss himself would tip him off to the effect that someone had spilled the beans on his cult’s rituals, and he’d orchestrate a cover-up which might involve the brutal murder of anyone suspected of breaking the Servants of Darkness oath of silence.

From this hypothetical example, you see what I’m talking about. By forwarding to Rob Port that e-mail chock-full of potentially actionable defamatory statements about Chuck Heath, Joe McGinniss may have put himself in serious legal jeopardy. Beyond that, McGinniss may have compromised his source’s anonymity. If Chuck Heath is the violent lynch-mob leader the source claims, there’s nothing to stop “Lynch Mob Chuck” from putting two and two together, figuring out who this “deeply involved” source is, and then leading his posse of Wasilla thugs on a rampage of violent vengeance against the source.

Rob Port doesn’t seem to get the wild recklessness of McGinniss’s actions in this instance. Instead, Rob reaches a more mundane conclusion: “The moral of the story, though, is that McGinnis is a slime ball.”

And I wouldn’t trust him around cats. IYKWIMAITYD.