THE GRYPHEN FILES: Dan Goes HuntingDuring Open Season on PDS Moonbats

Some of the commenters seem to share my wife's opinion of the Griffin/"Gryphen" story: "Why are you doing this? What's so important about this guy?"

Just asking questions. OK, I've tried to explain before, but since people keep asking, I'll try again.

On the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 1, I was minding my own business, working on a paid feature story that had nothing to do with Sarah Palin. At about the 500-word mark, I decided to take a break and, as is my habit, check Memeorandum:

Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce

Holy mother of crap! How had I missed this story? Why hadn't anybody called me? You've got no idea what a furious mood I was in when I picked up my cell phone, hit a speed-dial number, and left an angry voice-mail demanding to know why I hadn't gotten a tip about this.

Because it wasn't true.

OK, fine. Demolish the Bozo who ruined my Saturday and get back to work. And sources say Sarah Palin thought this line was ROTFLMAO funny:

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.

LOL, but serious as a heart attack: I don't care if Todd Palin hikes the Appalachian Trail to Argentina or Sarah Palin flies to Vegas and spends Labor Day weekend with the Chippendales dancers. As long as the Palins don't get a divorce, the continuation of their marriage proves that Jesse Griffin is a liar, Dennis Zaki is a floppy-shoed clown, and I'm solid gold, baby. (Please, Todd and Sarah, work it out for the sake of the kids. And me.)

On the other hand, as my "smelly Libertarian" friend Tom Knapp points out, the threat of a libel suit against Griffin is probably just a threat because "discovery is a bitch."

Griffin and His Precioussss
Right. And the same is true of Jesse Griffin's threats toward Dan Riehl. If only Griffin had grabbed a nice hot cup of STFU and contented himself with this Mutually Assured Destruction stalemate in the libel-law Cold War, maybe I could have spent the past 10 days chasing leads on IG-Gate. But noooooooo . . .

Jesse Griffin kept pushing and pushing and pushing. That's the most important fact of this whole story: From the very beginning, Jesse Griffin could have put down his precioussss and walked away, and there would have been no purpose in mining all those public records.

Griffin has proven himself a habitual liar, and an unusually stupid liar, at that. He's like a cartographically-impaired soldier who, having accidentally called in fire on his own position, crawls out of the smoldering crater, picks up the radio and tells the artillery commander: "You've got the range! Now hit 'em with all you've got!"

Griffin relentlessly pursued this self-destructive course of action despite repeated clues that Dan Riehl had a huge supply of ammunition and was prepared to fire it with brutal accuracy.

Just how clueless is Griffin? As recently as Monday, he claimed that a celebrity interview with Levi Johnston -- a/k/a "Ricky Hollywood" -- was the overdue vindication of his bogus Aug. 1 rumor.

Levi Johnston vs. Dan Riehl. As the man says, "Heh."

Speaking of "Heh," let me add here that I've noticed Professor Glenn Reynolds doesn't like this story. Griffin is just a clueless PDS-afflicted liar, but the author of An Army of Davids can't be happy to see even a fraudulently dangerous blogger being destroyed in this fashion. Honestly, I don't like it either, but what can I do?

Two Kinds of Crazy
We're talking about Dan Riehl. He's from New Jersey. When Dan digs in, he really digs in:

That fits with what a college girlfriend once said of me - I'm a bulldog and never let go of something until done once I latch on.

Dan doesn't really need my help, but when he calls me -- "Hey, Stace. What is this, Tuesday already? Been up since Sunday, man. I must've smoked a carton of Marlboros in the past 24 hours . . ." -- and starts telling me what he's dug up, the ghosts of certain departed Old School editors tell me to get on the assignment. If somebody asked me to start up a news operation tomorrow and told me the operation was budgeted for exactly one research staffer, Dan would get that job.

Woodward and Bernstein? Nah. Working with Dan is more like Lethal Weapon. I like hanging out with crazy people, because I get so tired of always being the token crazy guy in the room. Invite another crazy guy to the party, and I can relax and watch.

Fortunately, Dan is the opposite kind of crazy from me. If I'm ADD -- skittish, imaginative, all over the place -- Dan's OCD: Laser-focused, toiling endlessly to nail down whatever he's working on. He gets mad at my tendency to be distracted, I get annoyed by his stubborn refusal to admit that sometimes my crazy gut-hunches are pure genius. Dan has gut hunches of his own, but he's all about facts, and he sure as heck isn't going to trust somebody else's gut hunches.

Which is to say that, on a story like this "Gryphen" thing, Dan had me at "hello." Whoever the anonymous Internet dude was who CC'd Dan on that "Gryphen"/Griffin ID, they got my attention. And the minute Dan called and started telling me what the public records showed on Griffin, my gut hunch said it was going to be a big story.

The world of blogs and journalism is big enough for me to take the risk that Byron York might beat me on the next IG-Gate scoop. I got the last break on the ITC IG investigation, Congress is on recess and . . .

Hey, wait a minute. "Waste, fraud and abuse"? Clinica Sierra Vista gets $4.3 million in stimulus cash? Wonder what might happen if our buddy SIGTARP decides to poke around that one? Just asking questions . . .

Anyway, I figure Team Obama's going to throw Griffin under the bus, and if SIGTARP investigators start asking questions, he'll have the right to remain silent. (A nice hot cup of STFU, long overdue.)

So even if everybody in the blogosphere thinks Dan and I are crazy for chasing this story, my gut hunch tells me it's a long way from over. Watching Dan go after Griffin is like a Nintendo Wii game, Rambo vs. Elmer Fudd: Open Season On Moonbats.

So pop some popcorn. Conservatives4Palin just posted the Breitbart TV interview with Dan. Heckuva show.

Don't forget to hit the tip jar, folks. The geniuses at VRWC-HQ apparently can't afford my cell-phone bill or car payment, but if enough blog readers hit my tip jar, maybe I can buy a ticket to Anchorage and apply some shoe leather to this story. Crazier things have happened.

Watch for updates at RIEHL WORLD VIEW.

UPDATE: EXCLUSIVE! ALL RUMORS ARE TRUE, IF YOUR STANDARDS ARE LOW ENOUGH!

THE GRYPHEN FILES: Of Moonbats and 'Minions'

"Yes I stand by every single word of it. Believe me if it had been wholly inaccurate you would NEVER have witnessed such a response by the Palin team and their minions."
-- "Gryphen," a/k/a Jesse Griffin, Aug. 5, 2009

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
-- Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003)

One of the basic problems of liberalism is that it requires a false optimism about human nature. If you believe all human problems can be solved by goodwill (and, of course, a few billion dollars of taxpayer money) you are self-evidently a fool, and I'm too old to waste time arguing with fools.

The Vision of the Anointed, as Thomas Sowell has famously called the fundamental delusion of liberalism, necessarily leads to other errors, until eventually the True Believer finds himself imprisoned by a set of false assumptions which he cannot question, lest his entire worldview fall apart. Once a reasonably intelligent person begins in earnest to critically examine the truth-claims of liberalism, he will eventually become an ex-liberal.

Habits of thought, however, can be as difficult to break as a heroin addiction, and someone who gets into the habit of thinking that every Democrat is a saint and every Republican is evil will have a hard time reconciling these beliefs with the facts.

As John Adams said, facts are stubborn things, and the fact is that Jesse Griffin's victimhood schtick looks like the predictable reaction of a narcissistic phony caught in a lie. Griffin is counting on his fellow liberals to subscribe to a syllogism:

• All liberals are good people;
• Griffin is a liberal; ergo
• Griffin is a good person.

If you think like that, you're a chump. And if you think that everyone with a nice smile is a good person, you are also a chump. Ted Bundy had a nice smile. (As does Sarah Palin, for that matter.)

Griffin wants to make this all about Palin, and invite his fellow Palin-haters to believe that Palin is the ultimate source of Griffin's woes.

Very convenient for Griffin, you see, as it seems that every dingbat in Anchorage with access to the Internet is spending all their time spreading malicious nonsense about Sarah Palin. So, by playing this Victim-of-Palin card, Griffin invites the swarm of blogospheric myrmidons to testify what a swell guy he is.

Whatever. I've spent five days working with Dan Riehl on this story, and it's time for me to move on. By the time any members of the Anchorage PDS Moonbat Brigade read this, I'll be on a train to D.C. to get back to the stories I was working on when Griffin ruined my weekend by claiming to know -- for a fact -- that Todd and Sarah Palin were getting divorced. As I wrote in my article earlier this morning:

Griffin's story was immediately promoted by Dennis Zaki's "Alaska Report" site, which claimed that "multiple sources" had confirmed the report. Jeanne Devon, an Anchorage Democratic activist who had previously blogged anonymously, also promoted Griffin's "exclusive" at the Huffington Post.
As a result of this promotion, by Saturday afternoon Zaki's headline, "Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce," was the lead item at the popular Memeorandum political news site, even though it had already been officially denied by Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton.

That's where the story stood a little after 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday when, taking a break from an article I was writing for the American Spectator, I decided to check Memeorandum and came to the erroneous conclusion that I'd been scooped by some nobody blogger in Anchorage.

This resulted in a phone call, and by 5:08 p.m., I had an authorized "completely false." By 5:38 p.m., I had a direct quote from Sarah Palin. And I then spent a little time conclusively demonstrating that Dennis Zaki is a clueless Bozo who wouldn't last a week covering the Floyd County Commission for the Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune. (The city editor is Mike Colombo; Bozos need not apply.)

This is what happens when stupid amateurs play "investigative reporter," you see? And then Sunday afternoon, some anonymous Internet dude sent me an e-mail with the identity of "Gryphen." I called Dan Riehl, who was CC'd on the e-mail, asked him what he thought, poked around a bit on the Google, and decided I'd better post it before Dan did, if I wanted the scoop.

Then I spent perhaps the sweatiest four hours of my professional career waiting for Dan to nail down the ID. If Griffin thinks he's suffered hell this week, imagine if my anonymous e-mailer had ID'd the wrong "Gryphen." Some poor schmuck who doesn't even have a blog finds a lynch mob in his front yard -- no, that would not do. Thank God, Dan nailed it.

Everything that I've done since then has been motivated by two factors:

1. My love of a being in on a big story; and
2. My personal opinion, as a father of six children, that I would be extremely angry if I found out somebody like Jesse Griffin was a teaching assistant in my kid's kindergarten class.

One of my sources, somebody who was never quoted or even mentioned in our reporting, is a Ph.D. expert in such matters.

"How in the blazes did they hire this guy?" said my source, after being filled in (names excluded) on the background, including the quotes from "Gryphen" when he was still anonymous.

Maybe it's all perfectly innocent. Maybe Griffin's the sweetest guy in the world. But as my source put it, any school principal who hires a middle-aged divorced man as "an assistant teacher in a room full of five year old children" needs to have their head examined.

Simply as a statistical proposition, it's a nightmare of unnecessary risk. My own daughter is majoring in early elementary education, and it's not like there is any shortage of potential kindergarten teachers.

Well, I'll let Dan Riehl fight it out from here. But I still have questions because -- thanks to Dan's ace research skills -- I know what the Anchorage school district was paying Griffin, and it sure isn't enough to make the payments on a $330,000 house.

Griffin keeps talking about having some other job that's his main source of income, but if he's actually being paid -- by the National Enquirer, maybe? -- to do journalism, he needs to be fired from that, too.

Maybe he's not a pervert, but he sure as hell is not a reporter. Now you'll excuse me, I've got a train to catch. And don't forget to hit the tip jar -- good minions don't come cheap.

LOOK FOR UPDATES AT RIEHL WORLD VIEW.

EXIT, LYING: SCHOOL'S OUT FORANTI-PALIN BLOGGER GRIFFIN

ANCHORAGE KINDERGARTEN AIDE
RESIGNS FOLLOWING DISCLOSURE

Jesse Griffin, the Alaska blogger who Saturday claimed in an "exclusive" report that Todd and Sarah Palin were divorcing, will no longer work as an Anchorage kindergarten teaching assistant, school officials confirmed Wednesday.

Griffin's resignation followed revelations that the 49-year-old Griffin had posted (under the alias "Gryphen") sexually explicit advocacy of pornography and masturbation on his "Immoral Minority" blog. (See "Give Jesse Enough Rope" WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE.)

Because Griffin's MySpace profile page featured a link to "Immoral Minority," that material -- as well as other vulgar content, including descriptions of former Gov. Palin as "a nasty b*tch" who wore "f*** me pumps" -- could have been accessed by anyone searching online for "Jesse Griffin" in Anchorage. (See "Jesse Griffin: Disturbing Revelations," by Dan Riehl.)

Investigative blogger Dan Riehl on Wednesday spoke by phone with Anchorage school district officials who seemed to have been previously unaware of the graphic content on Griffin's "Immoral Minority" site. (See "Jesse Griffin: Latest Developments," by Dan Riehl. )

Riehl was interviewed Wednesday evening about the Griffin case on Eddie Burke's popular Anchorage KBYR radio program. Burke said on the program that school officials told him that Griffin had submitted his resignation and that the district had "no record of any inappropriate actions" by Griffin while he was employed at Trailside Elementary School in Anchorage.

"Sarah is finished with Todd and has decided to end their marriage," Griffin wrote at "Immoral Minority" Saturday morning, saying that "one of [his] best sources" had told him the Palins were divorcing. Griffin's story was immediately promoted by Dennis Zaki's "Alaska Report" site, which claimed that "multiple sources" had confirmed the report.

Jeanne Devon, an Anchorage Democratic activist who had previously blogged anonymously, also promoted Griffin's "exclusive" at the Huffington Post. As a result of this promotion, by Saturday afternoon Zaki's headline, "Todd and Sarah Palin to divorce," was the lead item at the popular Memeorandum political news site, even though it had already been officially denied by Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton.

Griffin wrote on his blog Wednesday, "I stand by every single word" of the original report, which accused Sarah Palin of attempting "to hide a broken relationship" with husband Todd.

Griffin blamed "the Palin team and their minions" for discovery of his "Gryphen" online alias, which he says resulted in death threats and harassment. During his KBYR interview, Riehl disparaged Griffin's credibility.

"Right now, the best I can tell, [Griffin] has 'bogus' written so much all over him it should be his middle name," Riehl said, adding that he had discovered "one lie after another" from Griffin.

Griffin wrote Wednesday at "Immoral Minority" that he had a "long career working with children in gymnasiums, camps, and various schools."

After revelations that Griffin had used his "Immoral Minority" site to advocate "self pleasure" and express his preference for amateur pornography, Griffin told his blog readers Wednesday: "I think what is truly frightening is how ready some people are to believe that just because you are a male who works with kids you must be a pervert. . . . The truth is that I have never even been accused of anything inappropriate with a child in my classroom, camp, or home. It has simply never happened."

Further updates are expected at RIEHL WORLD VIEW.

'Former Palin Staffer Shopping Book'!?

"Diva moments, when Palin actually first heard from John McCain (not when she claimed), and how Palin believes she's 'the chosen one.' We'll post what we can when we get it."
-- Dennis Zaki, AlaskaReport.com, 8/1

"AlaskaReport has learned that Todd Palin and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are to divorce. Multiple sources in Wasilla and Anchorage (including a former Palin staffer) have confirmed the split."
-- Dennis Zaki, AlaskaReport.com, 8/5

Wow, if Sarah Palin's lawyer Thomas Van Flein is the omnipotent Rove-like svengali that Jeanne Devon says he is, then it shouldn't be too hard to deduce the identity of that source.

Really: How many Palin-hating former Palin staffers would have a bozo like Dennis Zaki on speed-dial? So add that one to your deposition list, Mr. Van Flein.

WOW! JESSE GRIFFIN WAS RIGHT!

I can't believe this! After she denied it in a direct quote! But Jesse had it right the whole time! Sarah Palin really is getting divorced after having an affair with . . .

BIGFOOT?

Hey, "multiple sources," right? And compared to Dennis "Bozo" Zaki (who is actually not a stringer for CNN, as he had previously claimed) the Weekly World News is a paragon of . . . what's that word? Ah, yes: "Integrity"!

Well, obviously, I don't know anything about that stuff. My speciality is history, and if Hiroshima wasn't enough, guess we'll have to . . . well, just keep reading here and at Dan Riehl's blog.

THE GRYPHEN FILES:Notes on the Delay

Given the unexpected delay in publication of the reports that Dan Riehl and I have been working on, I have asked and received permission from Dan to do what I had been planning to do before, namely examine the bogusness of the "reporting" provided by Jesse Griffin and Dennis Zaki.

However, I wanted to begin with a note apologizing for the delay, which unfortunately led to threats from Griffin. As I told you last night, Griffin, Dan Riehl is not a man you want to make angry. Dan has now posted the text of the e-mail, and please pay attention to this paragraph of Griffin's e-mail:

And hey for future reference if you think an allegation or rumor is incorrect then just wait it out and make fun of the person after it proves to be false. That keeps your integrity intact and makes you seem like the better man.

When Dan read me that sentence last night, I became furious. "Integrity"? You phony loser, you think you are the guy to lecture people about "integrity"?

Collaborating on this project has been extremely difficult. There are very important considerations, and Dan doesn't want to mess up.

One reason Dan decided to hit the brakes yesterday was that we'd both been working practically non-stop since Saturday and needed some sleep. Trying to coordinate action between two blogs required a lot of e-mail and phone calls.

We were both extremely irritable, and I was getting impatient. Delaying the story would make it seem as if we were bluffing or threatening. So I had to fight the temptation of saying, "Aw, the hell with it" -- just start publishing stuff and let Dan worry about his own end of it. But that would make Dan angry, and I don't want to make Dan angry.

While I was asleep last night, however, there were new developments which will now require further delays.

Grrrrrr. I'm missing out on other stories I should be covering. Tomorrow, no matter what, I'm going to Capitol Hill to get back on IG-Gate. No doubt Byron York will scoop me again because of this distraction caused by Griffin and Zaki, the Woodward and Bernstein of Anchorage. But look at what Griffin says in his e-mail:

By the way watch the local Alaskan papers closely for the next week, you may learn something.

See? Griffin remains obsessed with taking down Palin and asserting his own superiority by insinuating he knows things nobody else does. That little innuendo is Griffin saying, "I'm smarter than you. I'm smarter than Palin. I'm smarter than everybody. Hahaha."

So . . . wait.