I’ve often referred to the writer behind “The Mudflats” as Mudzilla.
She doesn’t refer to me as anything. In her latest article at the HuffPost, I’m an unnamed “out-of-state pro-Palin blogger.” I find it rather amusing that leftists who idealize Che Guevara are suddenly disturbed by outside agitators. If I were Keith Olbermann, I don’t think my “out-of-state” status would be so offensive to them.
Her true nom de cyber is AKMuckraker, and in the interests of charity and good will, I shall refer to her as AKMuckraker.
She has penned an article explaining in her own inimitable style the latest dust up in “the wacky world of Alaskan politics.”
AKMuckraker is a good writer. She chooses her words carefully. Her article is an attempt to deflect the opprobrium heaped on all of her leftwing AK blogging buddies because of Linda Kellen Biegel’s unconscionable photoshop of Trig Palin.
AKMuckraker crafts an interesting narrative of events. She claims that we ignorant “outsiders” had no idea that the face photoshopped on baby Trig was Alaska radio talk show host Eddie Burke. That’s rather surprising since it was my readers who first informed Eddie Burke of the photoshop. And I spoke with Eddie Burke on the phone at about 8:00 a.m. AK time on the very morning the photoshop first appeared on Biegel’s website. I know what Eddie Burke looks like, just as I know what Sarah and Trig Palin look like. We were well aware of what Biegel’s intensions were. Eddie didn’t even recognize himself in the photo at first. I didn’t recognize it as his face either. I thought it was a grotesque homage to Todd Browning’s “Freaks.”
It was in terrible taste. AKMuckraker is no fool. She knows it was in bad taste. She admits that it was “disturbing,” but she ultimately defends Biegel’s photo by using language like “wacky” to frame the whole narrative as just a silly little bit of nothing.
Does she have children? Remember that this is the same woman who was devastated when her identity was “outed” by a Democrat state representative in Alaska. How would she feel if we were to photoshop a “disturbing” imagine of her holding her child? Would her reaction be just a “wacky” bit of sideshow?
She also completely misstates my objection to the photo:
...one of the bloggers at the site [RAM: That would be little ol’ out-of-state revolutionary agitator me... call me Che Mansour] was featured on the Eddie Burke Show in Alaska and expressed the fact that her readers were outraged. This image was making fun of a precious special needs baby, she said.
Those were not my words. I said that the image was in poor taste and was mocking an iconic photograph that meant a great deal to families of special needs children. I said it was a crude, heartless and tasteless thing to do. I don’t think I used the word “disturbing,” but that would have been appropriate as well.
As I noted above, AKMuckraker is a good writer. She chooses her words carefully. Notice how she uses the words “a precious special needs baby.” She is not claiming that the baby is precious. She is mocking what she claims I said. That speaks a great deal to her personality, which strikes me as rather chilly.
My guess is that she would be more outraged by a cruel depiction of a baby moose, than that of a baby boy. But perhaps I am being unfair. Let her state clearly that it was a tasteless photo. Let her declare that though a politician is fair game, her children should be off limits.
Now, getting back to AKMuckraker’s article, which reaches new heights of absurdity...
She attempts to reframe the story as not about Biegel’s sick photo, but about “political watchdog” Biegel’s
quest to discover the secret collaborative link between Eddie Burke and Gov. Palin.
In framing this narrative, AKMuckraker relies on this photo which she took of Eddie Burke last Tuesday at an Anchorage Assembly Meeting:
Of course, she doesn’t provide the context of the photo, thereby encouraging readers to believe that Eddie was using the inflammatory language on the shirt to describe himself. Obviously, he wasn’t. KBYR, the Alaska radio station which also broadcasts AKMuckraker’s leftwing friend
Shannyn Moore, would not feature a radio host who is a “Nazi” or a racist, etc. It seems silly to have to point this out, but as we’ve repeatedly observed, the conventional attitude among the denizens of the leftwing fruitlooposhere is that if an opportunity, however tenuous, arises to attack Gov. Palin, then there’s no reason to let common sense get in the way.
There have been a number of contentious Assembly Meetings in Anchorage this month about a proposed city ordinance. Eddie Burke has been vocal in his opposition to the ordinance, while many of the leftwing bloggers have been vocal in support of it. Passions have been stirred on both sides of the issue. As a result of his vocal opposition to the ordinance, Eddie has been referred to in vulgar and inflammatory terms. So, he wore a shirt that displayed some of the hate directed at him by those who are in favor of the ordinance. Those are the names he’s been called for the position he’s taken. Perhaps he wore the shirt in an attempt to show the name-callers just how silly and over the top their name calling is. Perhaps it was an attempt to show them that he has a sense of humor. The reason is not important.
You may be wondering why this matters. Well, according to these bloggers, Gov. Palin and Eddie Burke are operating in some collaborative manner that is outside the bounds of normal interactions between an elected official and a member of the media. And because of this, they imply that Gov. Palin is somehow responsible for Eddie’s actions. As I noted, they have reached new heights of absurdity.
As a public official, it is vital for Gov. Palin and her administration to communicate with the citizens of Alaska, and that is primarily accomplished through the media. This includes newspapers, television, and talk radio. Gov. Palin has been on a variety of talk radio shows in Alaska, including Dan Fagan’s show. Is she collaborating with Dan Fagan as well? Or only with those who happen to agree with some of her policies? To claim that she has influence over any member of the media is simply not based in reality.
Gov. Palin does not agree with Eddie Burke on all of his positions, nor does he agree with her on everything. I don’t agree with Eddie Burke on all of his positions, nor does this website. I am a “live and let live” kind of gal when it comes to most social issues, and yet I have a respect for tradition and religion and those quaint civilizational forces which have served mankind ever since we crawled out of the cave and started building metropolises.
I don’t agree with Eddie Burke on everything, but that’s alright because Eddie Burke almost always goes out of his way to be respectful to callers who disagree with him. He only gets heated when confronted with people who defend heartless
attacks on the governor’s children or
who file frivolous
ethics complaints that make
a mockery out of Alaska’s Ethics Act.
What does all of this have to do with the photoshop of Trig? Nothing really.
Instead of condemning Biegel’s cruel photoshop of Trig, AKMuckraker decided to use this non sequitor to divert attention away from the obvious: In their desperate attempt to smear Gov. Palin, this network of Alaskan leftwing bloggers have long since lost sight of any reasonable standard of common decency.
UPDATE by RAM: Another line of reasoning that the leftwing bloggers are using to deflect the opprobrium and defend the indefensible is to point out that a similarly distasteful manipulation of the the photo of Gov. Palin holding baby Trig was made by another leftwinger earlier this month, only that depiction showed Letterman's visage on baby Trig's face. They want to know why we weren't outraged by that. The explanation is rather simple. We didn't see that earlier depiction. If we had, we would have condemned the heartless jerk who made it just as strongly as we condemned Biegel.
If they would like to see consistency in our condemnations, then I invite these leftwingers to email us any new outrages against Gov. Palin's children that they would like us to denounce. We don't have the time or the inclination to scour the dark corners of their creepy blogosphere to chronicle all of the crud they fling like monkey feces at a decent and honorable family that never did them any wrong.
Read more...
.jpg)
Posts
