Tuesday, August 4, 2009

THE GRYPHEN FILES:
E-MAIL TO JESSE GRIFFIN

Just sent this e-mail:
To start with Griffin, don't lecture me about libel. Screw you, you miserable little pissant. I didn't work my way up -- starting with a $4.50-an-hour staff writer job at a 6,000-circulation weekly in 1986 -- so some random loser could lecture me about libel law.
I spent more than two decades with a copy of the AP Stylebook And Libel Manual within arm's reach, and I know the difference between facts and bulls***, a distinction you seem to have trouble making. And you want to lecture Dan Riehl about "integrity"? When he told me that, I was half tempted to risk Dan's wrath by just going off on my own, but there are more important things to consider and I wouldn't want to make Dan angry, so I waited.
You made a serious mistake when you published that Palin divorce rumor, Griffin, and your idiot friend Zaki made another serious mistake by pretending to have confirmed it with "multiple sources." What you did, to borrow a term from military science, was to surrender the initiative to your enemy.
Even if Todd and Sarah had been ready to call it quits Saturday morning (and since my sources apparently aren't as good as yours, I have no way of knowing), you handed them a perfect weapon of revenge, which they can now use at their discretion. All they have to do is not file for divorce, and they make you a liar. And if they decide to sue your a**, I'm thinking you don't want a jury trial, so the folks in the jury box can see them every day, sitting in the front row holding hands all lovey-dovey.
Idiot. The other day I was telling my wife I'd have loved to have seen you try to file that "story" at The Washington Times some night when Geoff Etnyre was the M.E. in charge. You and Zaki would have been fired on the spot.
Working at a real news organization, as opposed to the idiot crap you and Zaki do, requires responsibility to others -- colleagues, bosses, advertisers, owners and, above all, the readers. As much as I love playing the Internet joker since quitting the Times in January 2008, I try to make it clear to readers the difference between when I'm being serious and when I'm just clowning around. After all, I've got a serious career as a freelance journalist, with a wife and six kids to worry about, and even if most blog readers "get it" when I'm just joking, misunderstandings can sometimes cause trouble.
Let's talk a little bit about "sources," Griffin. Until I came to Washington in 1997, I'd never worked for a newspaper that allowed what we call "blind sourcing," the anonymous "senior administration official" and so forth. Well, Washington is a different game (and I've got the knives in my back to prove it), so I had to learn how to deal with this "sources said" stuff.
One of the basic rules, insisted on by our Old School editor-in-chief Wes Pruden, was that you couldn't hang a story entirely on blind sources. You had to have something else -- some kind of document, or an official who was willing to go on the record and "put his name on it" -- or else it looked like you were just peddling gossip.
It didn't matter if the reporter knew that the story was right. Without something concrete to anchor the story, the reader might get the impression you were, to quote a highly-placed Republican source, "making stuff up." You owed it to your readers, and to the reputation of the paper, to get something or someone into that story that would let them know for sure they were getting the real deal. Otherwise, you couldn't publish it. And woe unto the poor schmuck on the national desk (alas, it was sometimes me) who signed off on a story where the reporter failed to "back up his lede."
It was for many years my honor to edit the work of such fine reporters as Jerry Seper, Audrey Hudson, Stephen Dinan and Ralph Z. Hallow. Ask any of those guys how much arguing was sometimes required to get a story just right, so that when we printed 110,000 copies, nobody at the White House, Congress or the FBI could dispute our credibility. Ask those guys, and maybe they'll tell you Stacy McCain is a clueless dilbert who doesn't know good journalism from a hole in the ground, but that's their right. It was their bylines on those stories, and if I screwed up the story by an editing error (the reporter's worst nightmare) then my stupidity could damage their credibility.
Speaking of credibility, Griffin, you don't have any. Given how wrong you were about the Palin divorce, you've blown whatever chance you ever had of being someone that people should take seriously. And given all the things you've written about Palin over the past several months, I'd guess the "malice" part of a libel action against you would be a lead-pipe cinch. But I'm not a lawyer, so that's just a guess.
Mala fides, as the lawyers say, is a dangerous thing. There have been times when I've been assigned to do a story -- and I wore two hats, doing both reporting and editing at The Times -- involving persons or organizations I considered evil. And when you get a story like that, the trick is to do it Joe Friday style: "Just the facts, ma'am." Like one of my first editors told me, "As long as you've got your facts right" -- i.e., as long as the story is accurate -- "they can't touch you." So if you're doing a story about somebody you can't stand, you tend to err on the side of caution. That's another Old School editor's maxim: "When in doubt, leave it out."
But you don't know that stuff, Griffin, because you're a phony -- and I state that as an objective fact. Sue me. You are trying to seem like you're reporting news without actually doing the work. That's as dangerous as mala fides, and when you combine the two . . .
Your bulls*** about "my best source" had some serious unintended consequences, Griffin. Among other things, you ruined my weekend. Frankly, I didn't give a damn about what was going on in Wasilla. I was planning to spend the weekend chilling out so I could spend this week up on Capitol Hill talking to my sources on the IG investigations. Byron York beat me last week, which was my own fault, and now I've got to play catch-up.
Instead, I ended up spending all Saturday knocking down the bogus story from you and Zaki -- the Woodward and Bernstein of Anchorage -- which left me entirely frazzled. And then I got a call Sunday morning from Dan Riehl, and my weekend descended into the seventh circle of Hell.
Your "best source"? Let me make something clear, Griffin: If I ever quote an unnamed source, it's with the understanding that, should any legal action result, my source will be willing to go on the record and testify on my behalf. There is a basic newspaper rule: If you publish something, and get a complaint from somebody who claims libel and starts talking about lawyers and lawsuits, the conversation is over. Have their lawyer talk to your lawyer, and if the lawyer says retract, retract.
A good reporter never burns his sources, but a good source never burns a reporter. If one of my sources doesn't call me first with the big scoop, I feel insulted. But that's probably just the notoriously touchy pride of a Southerner. ("Sir, you have impugned my honor!") However, if one of my sources feeds me bogus stuff so that I end up putting my name on a story that's wrong, you'd better believe I'm going to make him regret it. ("Pistols at dawn, you lying scalawag!")
So when Sarah Palin gave me that quote denying the divorce rumor, she might not have known what she was getting herself into. As I wrote: "That worldwide exclusive quote from Sarah Palin? You can take that to the bank, baby. . . . After I'd filed that, however, I sent an e-mail containing the admonishment that now, no matter what happens, the Palins can never get divorced, as this would undermine my credibility." I'm told she thought that was funny. Except, I wasn't joking.
Right now, I'm about 60-40 between Palin '12 and Romney '12, but I'd prefer Palin, just because I might have a better shot at the "sources said" angle on that campaign. But if there's any problem between the governor and the "First Dude" (and like I said, my sources aren't good enough to give me the play-by-play, "if you get my drift") they'd better not get divorced, or it's time to kiss the White House good-bye. However scandalous an affair might be (headline: SARAH SHOOTS 'TWO-TIMING WEASEL') a divorce would make me look like a chump. Woe unto the source who makes me look like a chump.
By the way, Griffin, there's one point you and I agree on: Republicans are too uptight about sex. I've been happily married for 20 years and, as the father of six kids, I always laugh when liberals suggest that being a conservative means I'm sexually repressed. More like irrepressible. Sometimes I joke around with my single friends, urging them to get married, lest they fall prey to the temptation of fornication. A joke, but serious, too. When God gives a guy as ugly as me a wife as good-looking as mine, it's the kind of blessing I'd be a fool to reject. ("MRS. McCAIN SHOOTS TWO-TIMING WEASEL")
One of my journalistic heroes is Benjamin Franklin, who wrote in his autobiography that, as a child, he was often admonished by his father with a Bible verse, Proverbs 22:29: "Seest thou a man diligent in his work? He shall stand before kings, and his place shall not be among ordinary men." Like they say, claim the promise. Because I'm lazy by nature, God has relentlessly chastised me for that sin. Nothing good ever happens to me unless I sweat for it, like I've had to sweat since Saturday.
So far, I've stood before congressmen, senators, governors, attorneys general, first ladies and Cabinet secretaries, but never yet a president nor a king. Given that I'll be 50 in October, I'm starting to get a little impatient. But live or die, I'm sure one day I'll stand before a king. So I just keep working and praying.
Speaking of prayer, Griffin, on your blog you say you're an atheist. Maybe you should pray to Nothing and see if that helps.

Good luck,
Robert Stacy McCain
Co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of
DONKEY CONS: Sex, Crime &
Corruption in the Democratic Party


P.S.: I CC this to my co-blogger Smitty, and will also publish it in its entirety on my blog, just so you can't play cut-and-paste games on your own blog, Griffin.
P.P.S.: Is the name of your blog a play on words? One thing I could never resist is a double-entendre, but I'll wait.
Wait, and keep watching Dan Riehl's site. I spoke to Dan about an hour ago, and we agreed that when he goes with what he's got, I'll take a look at it and then decide what I need to go with. So Dan's got the lead on this story now, and he's the man to watch.

UPDATE: Dan Riehl goes live:
School-aged children who were PC literate apparently could have had access to information posted on his blog . . .
Because of this apparent portal between his MySpace real identiity and his "Gryphen" alter-ego, the allegedly anonymous Gryphen appears to have been out all along. . . .
The blog appears to have routinely displayed content such as describing then Governor and VP candidate Sarah Palin as wearing "f*ck me pumps" or debating the acceptability of such concepts as referring to former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as a "c*nt" . . .
Read the whole thing. Hey, how's that "praying to Nothing" workin' out for you, Griffin? What was it the Moe Lane said? Me, I can put anything on my blog. I'm a private citizen, a mere entrepreneurial journalist, First Amendment and all that. But a public-school kindergarten teaching assistant . . .? Not so much.

Oh, and good luck trying to flush it down the Memory Hole. We've got plenty of screen-capture JPGs.

Have a nice day! :D

65 comments:

  1. Good God you must be scared shtless to have to write that diatribe to Gryphen!!!

    LMAO, at you thinking mainstream media will pick that up resume offering you a job from your little hell here with Palin freaks.

    FYI, McCain, why don't you STFU, wait this week for the Palin bomb to drop and fallout of her criminal behavior before being snarly know it all?

    Palin already left Alaska on a red eye flight to a compound trying to escape prosecution. You believe you and your association with Dan & Van Flein will not be examined for collusion.

    EVERYONE Palin uses is throwing under the bus...get ready to hit the curb.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovn' it! See the worm(jesse)squirm!

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  3. Hey Stacy,
    I am glad that Griffin bully is now bullied himself.
    Gaby

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  4. Oh. My. God. [That's not profanity, that's a call to witness.]

    Note to self: Never, ever antagonize Robert Stacy McCain. It may actually be even more dangerous than antagonizing the other other McCain, John Sidney III. Which is, so I understand, no great fun, either.

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  5. Griffen just got a double dose of "pucker factor".

    Remember Griffen...the political landscape is littered with the dry, brittle bones of those who have crossed Sarah Palin.

    I would say that you can now add Robert Stacy McCain and Dan Riehl to that list as well.

    Popcorn?

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  6. I think I'm in love. I hope you sent the same message to Zaki -- he's the one who calls himself a photojournalist. Or was that pseudo-journalist? LeeL

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  7. Item the first: That's Isabella from the other threads, isn't it?

    Item the second: I've been waiting patiently for very nearly a year now for the "Palin bomb" to drop. It hasn't yet. At some point, one has to wonder whether such a thing actually exists as anything other than a hallucination.

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL....the funny part is, Michelle, you think we actually believe that you're a creature of your word.

    When Palin doesn't vanish, you're not going to come back and apologize. You're not going to state that you were wrong. You're just going to run off somewhere else and drop another bucket of manure there. After all, it's what you've done with everything from your schoolbooks to your dumpster babies, aided and abetted by your liberal parents who are still under the delusion that yours was the second Immaculate Conception.

    You see, Michelle, it's impossible to get upset with someone like you because it's like attacking smoke. It's annoying and inconvenient, but it doesn't hurt you and it's gone as soon as the wind changes. Furthermore, the presence of it indicates a fire, which in this case is a raging inferno fueled by the pure liquid incompetence of Teh One and the China-syndrome-in-process wreck he calls a political party.

    So keep it up. You're pissing off the right people and you're making the ones you're trying to help look like utter fools. It's a win-win for everyone.

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  9. I loved it. Smack.Down.
    Best part: "pray to Nothing and see if that helps"...

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  10. Michelle,
    So you like a guy that threatens little babies with "getting their a$$kicked" because of their name. This is the type of guy that attracts you? PDS is a funky disease, no doubt!

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  11. How lucky can your wife be...to have a REAL man like you. You put it out there on the line...without blinking. I have bookmarked your blog and will visit it daily. Great report.

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  12. Great letter, Stacy. You are truly a writing stud. Your choice of words reflects keen insight on the matter being addressed, with no better example than "you miserable little pissant". Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Michelle wrotes:
    LMAO, at you thinking mainstream media will pick that up resume offering you a job from your little hell here with Palin freaks.

    Ma'am, if I wanted a job in the "mainstream media," as you call it . . . we, that bridge was a four-alarm fire about 12 years ago.

    As to your further advice that I should STFU, I just got off the phone with Dan, who tells me he's about read to go live. I suspect it is not I who will feel the need to STFU.

    Like Joe Friday said, "Just the facts, ma'am."

    Have a nice day :D

    ReplyDelete
  14. "As to your further advice that I should STFU, I just got off the phone with Dan, who tells me he's about read to go live. I suspect it is not I who will feel the need to STFU."

    You totally get how asinine this is?

    Full grown men playing Mean Girls out over some stupid btch "Rumor" Palin is getting a divorce. Do you in the very least admit how petty and wasteful your time is on this personality conflict & the ramifications of YOUR reality for bickering over Palin not wearing her wedding ring? Do you?

    It IS well known both her and Todd have had extra martial affairs. Palin has never denied such. Her only reason to go full BORE with the divorce arsenal is to keep her name in headlines it is not an honor thing so all three of YOU should grow up and STFU.

    You all look like jackasses. You all think much more of yourselves than anyone else, with so much in common it amazes me you are not best buddies.

    Today is for some their last day on Earth, their last moment with a loved one, the last time they will see the sun rise and how do you honor the privileged of life...you sit beside your computer waiting to blog about some non issue that tomorrow will have no relevance or consequence.

    You feel all noble now?

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  15. http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/08/jesse-griffin-troubling-revelations.html

    Ouch, thats gonna sting!

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  16. Really, if you call Libel everytime someone scoops a major story, the whole world is blind and toothless.

    You're just upset because you're irrelevant.

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  17. OMIGod you fcking idiots.

    That is all you got? APPARENTLY THIS AND APPARENTLY THAT?

    This is your big ass revelation that you have been waiting to expose Gryp for? Call 911 he has a MySpace page. Hurry Hurry get the Holy Water he said PENIS.

    Lord almighty your members here post worse sht about wife beating and BTW your queen the other day was guest to W.A.R. (Wayne Anthony Ross) @ the NRA buffet, Ya Know the Attorney General she tried to get seated who was DENIED position due to his comments “If a guy can’t rape his wife…who’s he gonna rape?” and “There wouldn’t be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouths shut.” AND “We have the right to discipline our wives and children without the interference of government in our lives!”


    Man up and get a life.

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  18. I would have finished the letter at the end of the first paragraph. But then, I'm not you.

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  19. Nothing brightens my day more than a Texas-sized ass stomping.

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  20. Wayne Anthony Ross never made any such comment. That smear was started by Leah Burton, a crazy PDS loon who believes that Pastor Rick Warren is trying to take over the country and turn it into a theocracy. Burton claims to have overheard Ross make that statement 15 years ago at a Denny's restaurant somewhere in Alaska. Ross testified under oath that he had never even been to that particular restaurant before and of course had never said any such ridiculous thing. Nice try, you leftist lying dirtbag. Do you people ever do anything besides defaming honest public servants? I'd say shame on you but you have no shame.

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  21. Evidently the left is projecting... because it sure looks like the roaches are out today!

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  22. Oh lookie C4P Mansour is here and YES, indeed Ross said that and so much more!!!


    W.A.R. after writing his lovely little denial he said any such thing sent his letter cc to
    Sarah Palin, Governor, Mike Nizich, Chief of Staff and Sharon Leighow, Deputy Press Secretary.

    Yet when CONFRONTED by media with additional testimony from the Dads Against Discrimination event W.A.R. refused to comment. Hence HE WAS NOT VOTED A.G. for Alaska in an UNPRECEDENTED NEVER BEFORE E V E R vote against an A.G. nominee.

    And before you whine saying he was not seated just to spite Palin, Sullivan was accepted so how about you STOP THE LIES!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Michelle mendaciously stated:
    FYI, McCain, why don't you STFU, wait this week for the Palin bomb to drop and fallout of her criminal behavior before being snarly know it all?

    Michelle, either name the criminal behavior or you're the one who should STFU, you delusional twat.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'll double-down on what RAM just said and also warn you lefty lying dickwads that you, too, could be looking at a libel action from Mr. Ross. Last I checked, he does not meet the definition of a "public figure."

    ReplyDelete
  25. RSM, you apparently have a vulgar commenter infestation. Time to call the fumigator.

    Also, if your attention to this issue is in truth petty and a waste of time, I would say the potty-mouthed commenters are even less worthily employed.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Guess those that still want to support the
    dude and IMMORALGATE...either don't have children or don't care what they are exposed to.
    A man 40+ years old that has shown such hate, by his use of foul words, for women that he has to use words not fit to use in a classroom and might even offend some in a bar is allowed to continue to work at a school. Wow..I ask, where are you coming from???

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  27. Yeah, what Ram just said, you shameless, dirtbag, liar Bella.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Fool said...
    This is your big ass revelation that you have been waiting to expose Gryp for? Call 911 he has a MySpace page. Hurry Hurry get the Holy Water he said PENIS.

    Anono#1 says..

    Uh, no. Kindergarten teacher, Jesse Griffin is encouraging "boys" to wear dresses, "suck cock," and masterbate. I'm pretty sure that teachers have some kind of conduct code that he broke.

    Goodbye teaching job!

    ReplyDelete
  29. "Full grown men playing Mean Girls out over some stupid btch "Rumor" Palin is getting a divorce. "

    Ah, but you see, it wasn't a rumor, Michelle; your boy Gryph said so himself that it was NOT a rumor and that it was fact.

    Since you now claim it's a rumor, why don't you state publicly that your boy Gryph is WRONG and that he in fact LIED when he posted on his blog that it was a fact?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Great email. And job. I love your writing style. If Clark Gable had been a gumshoe, it's how he would've sounded.

    Mrs. Peperium

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  31. I find it amusing that your great claim to journalistic professionalism comes from your experience at the Washington Times. BWAHAHAHA. Pat in Texas

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  32. If anything, Stacy, you are pissing off the right people.

    Keep up the good work.

    HTTJ.

    ReplyDelete
  33. You've got to love the looney left. It's like kicking a bag of rotting, putrid garbage, and the flies & maggots coming pouring out.

    Stacy, both you and Dan, have done a great job exposing them for the loons they are. When you expose one, it's the trickle down effect. All the rest get the stink on them, too!

    ReplyDelete
  34. wow, all this because someone posted that the quitter and her husband were QUOTE splitsville ENDQUOTE?

    wow! something that small gets you going to the point of sounding like you're fixing to stroke out? Hhahahaaaaaaa jeeeezus!

    did you guys gang up on the enquirer, also, too, when it posted the original affiar rumors last year? I mean surely that must have made you blow a few gaskets.

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  35. how fortunate for palin that she has such classy people doing her dirtywork, heh...

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  36. RSM layeth the smacketh downa!

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  37. crystalwolf aka caligrlTue Aug 04, 05:31:00 PM

    Ram, how was Alaska??? Juju won't tell us over there at IM where she always hangin'?
    Ram, how come you haven't shared any stories with your blog? I'm you were up in AK for how long??
    Why so secret? And RAM BTW WAR did SAY THAT!!!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Did this Michelle person really state that Palin had left on a red eye flight to a compound to escape prosecution???? Wow I have never seen such madness! BTW is the compound in her new real estate in Long Island or Montana?
    Am waiting with interest for the iceberg to hit this week as well and for her post when nothing happens.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Wow, I haven't seen trols stinking of fear like that in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  40. My money's on Gryph. The lefty bloggers have taken down Saint Sarah. What do you all have to show? Going after a kindergarten teacher's aide. That would be a big accomplishment - if you can manage it... Meanwhile we will just admire our stuffed lyin' moosehunter mounted on the wall.

    ReplyDelete
  41. LOL, what's the matter Jan? You losers know you have NOTHING on Palin, and now we've got some good shit on your boy. The things Gryphen dreams up while masturbating to god-only-knows what have proven time after time after time to be nothing but fever-swamp hallucinations, and his only "sources" are the voices in his head.

    Talk about unintentionally funny! You freaks take the cake.

    If I gave a shit about any of you Trig-Troofer douchebags I would advise you to cut your losses and throw this deluded, truth-challenged deviant Gryphen under the bus and salvage what's left of your decency, but you're so wedded to conspiracy theories born of nothing but your own delusions of grandeur that you'd ignore it anyway. Instead, I'll just laugh as you fruitloops go down with the SS Gryphen.

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  42. Good work RSM, we always know the more these posters whine and lie, the more scared, bewildered and paranoid they have become. Love it. Keep up the good work, millions support you.

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  43. Interesting that those defending the blogger swear that WAR made those comments about women, based on one moonbats recollection. Their evidence is zilch, but they believe and propogate such lies. Same here again. Whackos.

    Everything Grypen has said is made up. He has a history of being completely delusional (Trig Truther). It hasn't changed.

    The point now is not is it true or not, but what will it cost him to spend all his time maligning people pretending he has sources.

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  44. Gryphen is now whining on his blog about people contacting the school via email and phone calls.

    What a wuss!!! Just like his picture. Pumped up air bag, ready to burst, hehehe.

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  45. Now I know why the right and the left don't get along. The left is so full of hate and instead of making a sane,rational case for their point of view they think the way to win an arguement is to name call others.

    I personally don't care if the Palins get divorced or not. I don't like her and never will, but people get divorced every day for all kinds of reasons even Christians.

    The only good use for the Washington Times is for wrapping dead fish. And as for the left being full of conspiracy theories...can anyone say "birthers", come on now, I know you can.

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  46. Richard,

    Dedicating your life to ruining Gryphen's -- all because he said the Palins were divorcing -- will keep you from rising above his level. You are way too angry about this.

    Somebody said, "Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience." Take heed, my friend.

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  47. Zurk, here's some advice; friends do not call Robert Stacy McCain "Richard".

    Concern trolls who have never read the blog and just trying to astroturf, on the other hand...

    ReplyDelete
  48. The 49th State Stalinists don't need no steenking evidence. They live on the lie, by the lie, and for the lie. Now that they are choking on the lie, it appears that they will die by it also.

    Let's order some wings and beer...

    - JP

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  49. No, Zurk, you've got it bass-ackwards. It's Gryphen, Zaki and the witches of Babblebrook who have dedicated their lives to ruining those of Sarah Palin and her family, remember?

    Now, like a cheap fun shop exploding cigar, it's all gone horribly wrong and is burning their faces.

    Don't worry, each one of this little gang of leftist goons will get his or hers in turn as they hoist themselves on their own petards.

    These Stalinists have no one to blame for their downfall but themselves.

    It's all about sewing and reaping, but that will go right over Gryph the Styph's atheist head.

    What is his obsession with little boys and their private parts, anyway?

    Perhaps you would like to 'splain that one to the parents of Gryph's students, Zurk.

    - JP

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  50. I've had my differences with RS McCain and his associations. But this isn't the time to air all that.

    Rorschacht was right: evil must be punished. It doesn't matter who does the punishing, and it doesn't matter who gets punished (assuming he's guilty, which in this case - he is).

    The blogosphere is, Allah willing, soon to be less one scumsucker, thanks to Riehl and McCain. Let this be an "encouragement to others", as Voltaire might say.

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  51. Zurk said...
    Richard,

    ********

    Now who would "take heed" from a moron like that ... confused as confused can be.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Okay, I've been working my ass off for the last 8 days and haven't had many breaks to fully "engage" in this story since Stacy first broke Sarah Palin's [now famous] quote. I was targeted for something I didn't say in a comment to that post and, thanks to Stogie, my comment wasn't deleted, not having said what another (anonymous) commenter accused me of.

    Stacy, you are quickly becoming my first read in the evening (or during work, if I can take a break). I look to your blog for insight into how I can improve the writing on MY blog. I'm strictly an amateur, but I'm gaining in confidence by watching your unflinching commitment to truth in writing.

    I haven't found a good niche yet, but I really enjoy the interplay between Twitter and blogging. If I had more time away from the 8-5, I might pursue a path that leads me to more investigative-type subjects.

    I would like nothing more that to do the dirty work of exposing the Gryphens of the world. I will never hide behind "Anonymous", because I believe that you have to "man up" to your expressed opinions. I cannot imagine what it would be like to put up with the scurrilous attacks that Sarah Palin and her family have had to endure. I don't think I could restrain my guns the way she has!

    God bless Sarah's restraint! We want her to stay on the stage and express what we all want to hear.

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  53. Zimri: Evil must be punished? Gryphen has a heart full of hate, no doubt about that. But Robert's rage goes well beyond righteous indignation, too. One of the reasons the blogosphere sucks so much is that it's full of people looking to hurt other people. This symbiotic death-embrace of a dirtbag reminds me of a bit of wisdom from the guy who draws/writes SHORTPACKED!: "Hatred and fear are the only constants in online communication."

    Gryphen should be held accountable, and Zaki got that done. This effort to drive Gryphen off the Internet, to silence him and deprive him of his livelihood by any means possible, is something else entirely. I subscribe to what John Stuart Mills preached: the most effective way to counter error is with better ideas -- not censorship.

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  54. "One of the reasons the blogosphere sucks so much is that it's full of people looking to hurt other people."

    And yet, the only people who seem to get lectures are the ones like Robert, who, aside from not being even close to a dirtbag, has exhaustively documented everything that he's putting up -- versus the ones like Gryphen, who are dirtbags and are just throwing out crap.

    When you decide to prance over to Gryphen's blog and give him a talking-to, Zurk, then you might have some credibility. But again, given that you couldn't even get Robert's name right, it seems rather obvious that your point has nothing to do with ethics or morality and everything to do with protecting your dirtbag friend Gryphen.

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  55. Gryphen censored this comment on his blog, so I'll post it here.

    Griffin, you are a small fish who tried one too many times to take a bite out of a big fish. Sarah Palin didn't out you. She doesn't have to. You've done all of this to yourself. You didn't have to publish this story (which is not sourced). You did not have to release the document Sarah Palin's attorney (supposedly) sent you. Yet you did all of those things. Due to your own ineptitude, you have roused the anger of conservative bloggers which led to the discovery of your identity. But in all honesty, ask yourself this: Did you actually think you would get away with these constant attacks (utter lies) on Sarah Palin without any sort of backlash? To think otherwise is simply pathetic on your part.

    Great blog, R.S. McCain. It was truly a good read.

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  56. North Dallas Thirty:

    "When you decide to prance over to Gryphen's blog...."

    You misunderstand why Jesse Cornish's comment, which immediately follows yours, appears here instead of on Gryphen's blog.

    "you couldn't even get Robert's name right"

    Typo flames are always pointless, brother. Looking for secret motives in typos is illogical.

    The point I'm making here is that for all the space Robert devoted above to praising his own Christian and other noble values, what he ended up demonstrating is that his primary pursuit these past four days has been the same as Gryphen's: the politics of personal destruction.

    It's neither controversial nor heavy thinking to criticize that. We all heard this from our mothers when we were seven years old: you don't do something stupid just because other people are doing it.

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  57. ZURK WROTE: "his primary pursuit these past four days has been the same as Gryphen's: the politics of personal destruction."

    God forbid that I should ever do what Gryphen has done:

    THE GRYPHEN FILES: GIVE JESSE ENOUGH ROPE

    He has destroyed himself by his own free choices.

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  58. Oh, and BTW: Who are you, you anonymous pissant, to lecture a man who puts his name on every word?

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  59. Well said Robert...I find it odd that a liberal zombie(yes, zombie & liberal are one & the same)like Jesse lectures others about sex yet at 49 remains unmarried. I guess homosexual marriage hasn't been approved up in Alaska yet. The more I read about zombies the more I have come to believe that liberal democrats are really zombies...they adhere to what the master says and they do it. They are void of real sense. These Griffin fellow is another in the long line of mindless zombies. I find it so odd that anyone like this Griffin person would spend his days and nights on an obsession with the Palin's. What can be derived out of this? Perhaps at 49 with the possiblity of being unemployed, Griffin has looked at his life and realized he's a loser without any prospects. Perhaps that's why he hates the Palin family so much. One thing is for sure, why do liberals get so carried away with irrelevant issues like the Palin family and spend gobs of time obsessing over them, that's what I want to know. I bet it's some sort of revenge factor. It's those obsessive types one has to watch out for, you read about them in the front pages of any American paper.

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  60. One other side note I wanted to mention and I do this with much hesitation. Why are most of the women that are vocal in their hatred of Sarah Palin obese or looks challenged? I realize that sounds tacky but I have noticed in the past few days, the ones outed who have attacked Palin for some time now are almost always obese. Is it because at Palin's age she has been successful at maintaining her shape and has taken great interest in the way she presents herself? My Mother like Sarah Palin was a very attractive business woman in her day before her passing at 64 years of age. She incurred a lot of wrath from other women at times she couldn't understand. The one common theme was the vast majority of these women were plus size women as well as the types that were adverse to makeup and nice attire. I don't want to categorize all women this way, but there always seems to be an underlying motive in the way some respond to women of great beauty. And by beauty I also mean on the inside as well as the outside. This leads me to this "Michelle" poster. She certainly has an axe to grind. My guess is she's one of two types, a troll seeking attention or a Claire McCaskill/Elizabeth Edwards shaped woman. It's easy now to understand what John Edwards mind set was during the election when he pal'd around with Rielle Hunter. As for "Michelle" I bet her cupboards are filled with ho-ho's and Drakes coffee cakes.

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  61. Thank you Mr. McCain, sunshine is always a darn good disinfectant. For too long this group of bloggers hid behind their anons thinking they were safe to carry on their discusting, relentless attacks on the Palin family, it's high time they have to face what they have done. They are finding out the world is much bigger than the tiny circle they inhabit, those outside of the circle do not accept their putrid behavior.

    About Facebook. My granddaughter set up a Facebook account for me while visiting this summer and I immediately accepted all my grandchildren as friends. My grandson quickly learned a lesson, everything he puts up on his Facebook acct. also shows up on grams. Kind of reminded me of a lesson my grandmother taught me. "Never put anything in writing you don't want to last forever."

    As long as we are to be concerned with a possibility of kindergartners viewing a summons being served, my concern is, are there any children from that school(K-6th) that are Facebook friends of this twit?

    He probably behaved in a professional manner while in the classroom, but if he allowed children access to the discusting things he put up on his Facebook account, perverted, IMHO.

    BTW, if I am correctly remembering the title...Everything I know I learned in Kindergarten....yikes!

    Keep up the good work and thanks again!

    Missy

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  62. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  63. Re: "the lefty bloggers have taken down Palin."

    Could happen. Stranger things do, but she's only the second casualty: they've already tatooed "One and Done" on Obama's forehead.

    With their ignorant defamations and off-the-chart contempt for Palin they've shafted the president so many times he must feel like he's playing Ned Beatty's part in "Deliverance".

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  64. It is so very hard to keep up with every controversy. However, if I have learned something about blogging then I have learned it from Mr. McCain. I saw what this Gryphen fellow had written and it is so disgusting that the only real answer is that he is never allowed near any child again. This comment is not about Sarah Palin but about the disgusting kind of things advocated by a pervert.

    In my country that kind of person would not be allowed anywhere near a child.

    Also, I am one of the obese women who does not wear make up. I have not lost the weight since the birth of my third son in 1983. I am not jealous of Sarah Palin.

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  65. Don't hold back. How do you really feel?
    :)

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