More on Sparkman: “Fed” was written Ashley Todd-style
Remember Ashley Todd?
She was the young Republican hate crimes hoaxer who carved a backwards “B” on her face and tried to blame it on an Obama supporter last fall. I took a lot of crap from from my own commenters for doubting her fishy story straight out of the box.
At least you guys and gals had the intellectual honesty to admit that you were wrong.
The nutball blogger who wrote on September 26, “No Suicide: That’s the one thing we know for certain now in the case of the Kentucky lynching”…

…and who stoked the criminalize-the-conservatives meme with bald and righteous pronouncements about the cause of death (“the murder seems even grislier the more you examine it…”):

…refuses to acknowledge his own role as a rhetorical lynch mob leader. Yes, he has the added nerve to pompously “correct” me and deride my credentials.
What a waste of bandwidth.
Folks in Clay County, Ky. are still steaming from the nutroots-perpetuated smears and the hoax tactics that Sparkman successfully used, including writing the “FED” red herring on his chest Ashley Todd-style:
Many people felt the speculation and coverage of the death played on Appalachian stereotypes and gave Clay County an undeserved black eye.
“Everybody was saying, ‘It’s bad, but why are they saying this without letting the investigation go forward?’ ” said state Sen. Robert Stivers, a Republican who lives in the county.
Many in the media owe the county an apology, Stivers said.
The census suspended some work in Clay County after Sparkman’s death. The agency has been notified of the findings in Sparkman’s death and plans to resume normal operations, Beyer said.
If there had been no writing on his chest and his identification hadn’t been taped to him, police could have concluded more quickly that Sparkman’s death was a suicide, Rudzinski told the Herald-Leader.
Instead, it took considerably more investigation to rule out homicide. Investigators even analyzed the writing on Sparkman’s chest to see how the letters were applied, in order to determine whether he wrote on himself or someone else wrote on him.
Forensic tests showed that the letters were applied from the bottom to the top — not the way an assailant facing Sparkman would write them. Police concluded that Sparkman wrote on himself, Rudzinski said.
Here’s a round-up of reax round-ups at The Other McCain, who unlike High Judge of Journalism Andrew Sullivan, actually went down to Kentucky and reported from the scene in search of the truth.
***
Well, look at that: A Daily Kos diarist shows Andrew Sullivan how to be accountable and express regret:
Many in this community rushed to judgment when we first learned of the death of Bill Sparkman. How quickly we were willing to think the worst of “southern Appalachian anti-government wingnuts”.
Now that the truth is out, I believe we owe an apology to the residents of Clay County, Kentucky and others who were slandered by another example of Hyperventilating Bulls*** on Daily Kos.
I second the diarist’s sympathies for Sparkman’s family and all those around him who have to live with the hoax and its aftermath.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
MSNBC Leans Forward to Apologize to Mitt Romney
December 15, 2011 04:33 PM by Doug Powers
41 CommentsMichele Bachmann: By Now, Michelle Obama Would Have Gotten an Apology From NBC; Update: Apology Received
November 23, 2011 02:18 PM by Doug Powers
91 CommentsDid Newt Gingrich Say the Worst Thing Any Presidential Candidate Has Ever Said?
November 21, 2011 01:02 PM by Doug Powers
159 CommentsNina Totenberg: No Evidence of Anything Political About Solyndra
November 19, 2011 04:21 PM by Doug Powers
45 CommentsMedia Seminar: How to Silence an MSNBC Panel 101
November 16, 2011 11:45 AM by Doug Powers
205 Comments‘Smug Shot’ from the GOP Debate
November 14, 2011 02:01 PM by Doug Powers
143 CommentsDavid Gregory: No ‘Grand Wizard’ in the GOP Right Now Who Can Force Herman Cain Out; Update: Gregory Apologizes
November 9, 2011 10:00 AM by Doug Powers
193 CommentsCNN’s John King Defends Joe Biden’s Honor; Demands Satisfaction
October 27, 2011 03:46 PM by Doug Powers
68 Comments
Categories: Andrew Sullivan,census,Double standards,Media Bias
Patterico
» Sockpuppet Friday (a la carte edition)



JustOneMinute
» Send Better BS
Hot Air
» Rumor of the day: New North Korean leader assassinated in Beijing; Update: Untrue, says U.S.
AmSpecBlog
» The Burke-Hayek Double Play Combo
Pundit & Pundette
» Obama's compromise is not a victory for religious liberty [updated]













Pompous is the key word here…
One can hear pins drop in the MSM newsrooms as they discuss this and the GW hoax.
***
No need for the AMERICAN PRAVDA media to backtrack–just flush this “story” down George Orwell’s “memory hole” and divert the people’s attention with some non-story.
***
Did you see the First Lady’s chic new outfit? The one she uses while digging for spuds in the White House cut and run garden. And didn’t their Portuguese Water Spaniel look cool?
***
John Bibb
***
What’s the point of apologizing when the only thing people associate the Atlantic with is an ocean?
Seriously, Sully is a left wing puppet. His sole purpose is to provide “credibility” to left wing blog links by claiming he’s a right winger.
We also shouldn’t let other “conservative bloggers” off the hook. As I recall, Charles Johnson at LGF cited the ever impartial Rachel Maddow show while impugning tea party activists for this deed.
Chuckie a conservative? Anybody citing Rachel Madcow doesn’t deserve the title.
taylork,
LGF hasn’t been conservative for a long time. Early on during the “the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy” wars when anti-Islamists became “associated” with white supremacists, I kind of agreed with LGF…but as more details came out, and his refusal to admit being duped on more than one occasion, I stopped visiting….he’s made evolution his #1 litmus test, which is no where on my scale. (there is nothing that says both evolution and creationism can’t coexist, except in his world I guess)
Charles is one of those who believes the Republicans aren’t moderate enough to gather populist votes…because the creationists rule the party.
Off topic:
Michelle,
have you seen this? can it be true?
this is simply heartbreaking, these have go to be the endtimes:
http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/24/marijuana-prescribed-to-kids-with-adhd/
on topic
While they ain’t my blogs am a lowly reader/poster the andrew sullivan posts by many “right” bloggers is getting very tiresome and creepy. Who gives a hoot what that guy says and does.
Piling on while he implodes is not
admirable. This seems to be a wormhole bloggers can get themself into on both sides of the portals……
I was astonished when I looked at his blog this morning. Not even a HINT of an apology for his attacks on Michelle. It’s one thing not to be embarrassed by how wrong he was — liberals lack the gene to blush — but not standing up like a man and taking his lumps is pure cowardice.
The High Judge of Journalism Andrew Sullivan seems too prideful to admit he is not perfect and had made a mistake. Shame on him.
oh boy
They’re right because it’s impossible for them to be wrong!
If you stand on your head at look at it backwards, then you can clearly see that the evidence show’s Rush Limbaugh held the noose on his neck while Michelle Malkin and Sean Hannity kicked the stool out from under him, then Glen Beck and Laura Ingraham cleaned up the crime scene!
For me it was Johnson who put the nail in the Rathergate coffin. Two hundred some pages of the independent investigation report didn’t say as much as Charle’s GIF graphic of the purported Killian memo he superimposed over one made with Word 2000 set on default settings. You don’t need a document expert to know this was not typed on a 70′s vintage typewriter.
Rathergate was a kind of watershed event vindicating internet journalism, and LGF was a solid conservative voice in the middle of it.
So, was he really a closet lib all along or did he change?
I wish it was policy that a “Retraction” had to be on the front page in a prominate location. The NYT for example, has a habit of front page lies…. then their retraction appearing in a 1 inch block deep on the most Unread pages of that paper.
The mindless followers only remember the front page, and that is why you have idiots..(like one I work with) who years later will still claim the lie as the total fact..
No, no, no, I learned that they ate curry something or other last night and the prime minister of India is a veg-head. Thank goodness we have pravda to keep us informed.
Charles Johnson and Randy Andy (The Bareback Queen) Sullivan both went from supporters of Bush and the war on terror to strident liberal critics when Bush refused to endorse gay marriage.
Draw your own conclusions.
That’s what pompous asses do.
I would modify that slightly to say that any retraction should be placed exactly where the errant story was placed, and in the same typeface and point size.
Judging by the declining sales of liberal published trash, it is because liberals are too cheap to buy newspapers.
I really loathe The Left. They live in a fantasy world filled with stereotypes. They are, at best, ignorant.
michelle, you called a hoax on the republican girl, and were right, and you have called a hoax on numerous left wing war hero frauds and this (_?_). the (_ZZZ_) msm has been printing and publishing only the views which fit their agenda for so long they have totally forgotten what the truth really looks like. this is why you and sarah are so vehemently villified. (_*_)s like herr gruppenfuhrer sullivan can (_X_). keep up the good work.
MSM: “Jeez, why couldn’t Michael die this week?!”
What I want to know is, what is in that GQ article that Obama was seen clutching. I hear it was about “Teh Won”! Oh goody!
Michelle~
Andrew Sullivan has no redeeming value.
You won’t be able to draw blood from a turnip. And if ever there is anything worse than a rotten turnip, that’s Andrew.
His column header should be: Andrew Sullivan of No Class All Mush (drivel)
At least there was one post in the Daily Kos that lamented their “error” in jumping to conclusions in this. But even that was removed/erase, or else my eyes deceived me – it was there, then it wasn’t!
The sad fact is that many liberals of the Sullivan type will never apologize to conservatives or Republicans in general for “misjudging” or “misrepresenting” them. It just doesn’t fit their archetype.
Liberals like Sullivan don’t have the testicular fortitude to do the right thing: APOLOGIZE. Just a few. Too bad a majority of these bafoons still defend the likes of the Chosen One, his crew of misfits, and the need for socialism in our society.
Their house of cards will eventually fall. And it cannot come quick enough.
Ashley Todd? Hell, I still wanna know about that noose on the Columbia University perfesser’s door…
Your credentials are incomplete until you’ve made the scene at Provincetown and been arrested for being a stoner. Neither of you have killed or raped anybody (as far as I know) but that would be the holy grail of credentials.
O/T
I can’t believe that RUSSIAN state news is covering this but American “journalists” are not
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFt07eAAQ94
Let’s see if they’re as intellectually honest about ClimateGate, and the Left’s contortionist double standards on virtually every news event. Few seem to have any personal integrity. Little wonder that our Constitution is now a quaint afterthought in the halls of Congress.
***
I’ve always liked Michelle Malkin’s clear thinking and honest reporting. If something smells or looks wrong she evaluates it fairly–regardless of which side of the “political fence” it came over.
***
There are not a lot of good Journalists left–she is one of them. I think good Christian (and Jewish) Bible based values make a person think honestly–her faith stands out.
***
John Bibb
***
You must have the deluxe version of news streaming into your home. When I hit the “off” switch, the news people were asking (threatening) to let me know what Levi Johnston thought about something.
To be fair, “curry” is as much as most MSM people could tell you about India.
Even though it was a suicide/maybe insurance scam, it’s saddening to think that someone would do this to themself.
On an entirely different note, since Michelle invoked Andrew Sullivan, I don’t know if anyone else saw Iowahawk’s “Dial M for Maternity” post, but I have to say it was one of the funniest things I’ve read this year if you’re familiar with Sullivan’s “Palin Derangement”.
Absolutely. It is clear that Chuckles the Clown owes MM an apology as well. C’mon Chuckie, man up! Ask yourself what Charles Darwin would do.
Excuse me, but are we talking about the same Andrew Sullivan? That blogger guy?
A MAN, you say? Surely not the same guy ….
Who would ever imagined thirty years ago that we would be relying on the Chinese to save capitalism and the Russians would be showing us what is good journalism? If we reach the point that the Europeans start complaining about our lack of military leadership we will have hit bottom. Oh,wait…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6646179/Bob-Ainsworth-criticises-Barack-Obama-over-Afghanistan.html
You know, in my book, real men don’t do a lot of things Sullivan does. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
So it makes sense that he won’t do things that real men do.
Maybe he killed himself because “conservative-extremists” drove him over the edge. He couldn’t deal any more with redneck racists listening to Rush and Beck and Malkin and objecting to the census taking. It still could be the conservative movements fault, that is all I am saying.
Not.
Sullivan’s problems are manifold. First, he will NEVER look as good as Michelle Malkin. He is both simultaneously less masculine and less feminine and that obviously kills him.
Secondly, he is gay and claims to be Catholic. There is something clearly wrong with his mind (see point three) and he might as well claim to be a libertarian supporter of Obama. Oh, wait he claims that too!
Thirdly, his writings indicate a clear case of AIDS-induced dementia.
The boy is seriously messed up and it would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetically sad…
Funny thing:
http://minx.cc/?blog=86&post=292781#c6353454
I’m tooting my horn here, yeah. I called this the day after it happened. And yes, I connected this to Todd.
Another thing about Ashley Todd, Real-Life Moby. She was a Paulian just before “joining” the McCain camp. She then did this heinous act, carving a B on her face and then IMMEDIATELY admitting it, “Yes, I, a REPUBLICAN MCCAIN SUPPORTER, made up a story about a nonexistant black man attacking me.”
I would bet my every posession that she did this, this double-psycheout, despite martyring herself, for the Progressive Cause, in order to taint Republicans as racists and liars.
PAULIAN. As in, Ron Paul. As in, the people who lied and cheated every poll they could find, and discussed openly how to do this.
This little fact gets lost even today, not just by the MSM, but by even the conservative blogs – most still think this girl was really an unhinged McCain supporter, and not an infiltrator with a plan. Most people either have no discernment, or are so jaded with conspiracies that they think NONE EXIST. (THANK YOU MICHAEL MOORE FOR THAT, YOU BASTARD.)
Her plan worked. And she probably got kudos from all her friends at either Ron Paul’s camp or at DKos and Huffpo.
Regarding Sparkman: find this bastard’s E-MAILS. I would bet, again, that he was advised to do this, for The Cause by his leftist “friends”, after hearing his intent to kill himself.
Look for more of this. As I’ve said at other blogs, if another supposed “conservative” does some heinous act that looks like it could bring the wrath of the nation down upon conservatives, CHECK THE PERSON’S EMAILS, CONTACTS AND HUFFPO REGISTRATIONS.
The Progressives, always true to time-honored form, need their Reichstag Fire. And they will work hard to make it happen, even to the point of personal martyrdom.
The other scary/funny thing. Go to huffpo on this story and read the comments. They, or 99% of these tinfoil wackjobs, don’t believe the police, but that this new revelation is the work of either: Bush, the Evil Insurance Companies, Rush Limbaugh-listening hick police, or space aliens.
They have their canon. Nothing – no facts, no knowledge, no information, no logic, no reason – can dissuade them from belief in their canon, once established.
They have been programmed like Norton Utilities used to be: so thoroughly that deletion or alteration of the program is impossible.
She was only a “Republican girl” for as long as it took to do this act, in the days leading up to the election, and admit the next day that she made it up.
She was a Paulian.
I wonder did Michelle Malkin, God bless her continually, mention this fact? Or did she also lament that some Republicans are in fact crazy and do this sort of thing? I honestly don’t remember.