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Blowback Over The Daily Caller’s Mike Tyson/Sarah Palin Article Gets Riehl Nasty

» 48 comments

Mike Tyson‘s violent fantasies about Sarah Palin, reported and denounced here at Mediaite, have spawned several ugly subplots regarding Daily Caller writer Jeff Poor‘s uncritical reporting of Tyson’s remarks. Greta Van Susteren and DC publisher Tucker Carlson had it out, online and On The Record, over Poor’s reporting, but even as those embers cooled, conservative blogger Dan Riehl took things in a direction so nasty, even Tyson would have to run for a Silkwood shower.

Riehl, you may recall, is the treat of a human being who suggested that Sen. Harry Reid euthanize his wife following an auto accident, and whose previous defenses of Palin include an article entitled “Breaking: Tucker Carlson To Give Head On Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Those who criticized Poor’s poor judgment are correct that his original post lacked any analysis, let alone criticism, of Tyson’s remarks, but Carlson is also correct that the comments, themselves, were newsworthy. At worst, Jeff Poor placed far too much faith in his readers to properly contextualize Tyson’s remarks on their own.

The spirited debate that ensued over The DC‘s editorial judgment wasn’t enough for everyone, however. Dan Riehl decided that an appropriate punishment for Poor was to publish a story implying that Poor is a pedophile, linking to photographs of Poor’s four year-old niece, and when FishbowlDC‘s Betsy Rothstein called him on it, responded by asking her to imagine him sexually assaulting her. I wish I was making this up. From FishbowlDC:

Riehl was incensed. He’s a big Palin fan and “big” would be putting it mildly. He wept while watching a film that he said stole her innocence: “When I see innocence attacked so viciously I become very angry. My tears flowed from that, not so much from sympathy for her as an individual.”

So what does Riehl do? As an act of chivalry, he looked up pictures of Poor’s four-year-old niece on Facebook and at 3 a.m. (not at all a shady hour to post) published a story on his blog suggesting that Poor is a pedophile. He linked to photographs of the little girl. He based his accusations of Poor on a remark made three years ago regarding football and homosexuals.

Rothstein goes on to explain the many ways that Riehl protects the innocence of non-Palin women, and notes that Riehl took the post down at Carlson’s request. According to Riehl, this was out of “courtesy and practicality,” not because he’s afraid of Carlson. “(The post) was done in a specific manner so as to not be actionable,” Riehl says. I suppose that depends on your definition of “actionable.”

In response to Betsy’s article, for which Riehl was contacted and provided comment, he posted a tweet assuring Ms. Rothstein, like any sexual predator, that she would love to be sexually assaulted by him:

“Silly FB-DC.. If my pants were genuinely down, you’d be far more impressed, I assure you.”

Of course, flashing (also known as sexually assaulting) Betsy Rothstein is actionable, so Riehl ought to further his quest to protect innocence in some other way. Betsy won’t be able to see anything from the 50 yards away he’ll have to stay.

Riehl also tries to deflect his reprehensible actions by suggesting that Rothstein is motivated by friendship with Poor, which is not much of a scoop for anyone who follows them on Twitter. For what it’s worth, Poor’s only contact with me is to troll me on Twitter, and I still think Riehl’s actions were beyond disgusting.

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  • Anonymous

    I’ve never heard of this guy before, and judging by that ( I’ll kill you, cut you up and store you in my freezer ) look in the attached photo, I don’t want to hear about him..

  • Anonymous

    Tommy, instead of contacting ESPN for comment, chooses to go Gawker. Congrats Tommy. Too bad this story will never matter.

  • Anonymous

    Dan’s not as bad as Tommy alludes to and Tommy is just reading words into jokes. Everyone that follows Dan knows this.

  • Adrian

    “At worst, Jeff Poor placed far too much faith in his readers to properly contextualize Tyson’s remarks on their own.”
    At “worst” or at “best?”

    Dan Riehl and Tucker Carlson were made for each other.  

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ECYBIXNKAG5E46BC3GCJQPA7CQ well_its_no_cannibal_holocaust

    Right wingers show their true colors once again. Find another county to infect.

  • Anonymous

    Did you see that Breitbart struck again? :)

  • http://twitter.com/Good_Lt Good Lt.

    BREAKING NEWS: A blogger nobody cares about saying stupid things about a story that nobody cares about. Film at 11.

  • TruDat

    He seems eerily similar to the lefty blogger Savage.

  • CDC

    You would never say that if he was liberal.

  • Anonymous

    Dan Riehl is entering the Charles Johnson point-of-no-return territory.

  • Anonymous

    Really? You’re defending Riehl? He linked to pictures of a four year-old girl. What is wrong with you? Is left/right scorekeeping that important to you?

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like the usual “news story” in the age of internet “journalism”. Yawn. At least Riehl didn’t quote anonymous sources. Or did he?

  • Anonymous

    Clearly, all ideological sides of media have their share of  scumbags.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ECYBIXNKAG5E46BC3GCJQPA7CQ well_its_no_cannibal_holocaust

    i smoke treez.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t see what the big deal is.
    Obama’s white Mother not only had sex with a “womb mover” but then she also married him.
    Together they spawned the mutt….Barry Soetoro…uh…Barack Obama….or whatever alias he’s using now
    Nobody is fighting about that.
     

  • Vasallese

    No wonder few people have heard about these idiots, or wishes they had never heard of these idiots. This is how adults act?

  • Alaska45

    Scumbags like Dan Riehl and their vile propaganda are the ugly face of today’s GOP.

  • Owl22

    Dan Riehl is in a desperate race with Andrew Breitbart to be the most loathsome figure on the far-right fringe.

  • Lizton

    Sorry Dan Riehl but Greta already has the the job of Palin’s chief butt-kisser, apologist and luggage handler.

  • tjproudamerican

    It is quite clear from comments, here that right wingers have no moral values. They either claim that Riehl, who would never threaten Mike Tyson the way he physically threatens a 4 year old girl and a female blogger is unknown, when he is one of the most frequently referred to right wing bloggers on Memeorandum, or that Riehl was kidding, or that the story should be dismissed because it is unimportant.

    Right wing=conformist parroting.
    Right wing=fearful anger.
    Right wing=morally bankrupt.

    How anyone who is not Trig palin could be a Republican is beyond me. The Right wing loves to call people “…tards”, so they recognize on some level their failure to think, reason, and act morally.

  • tjproudamerican

    Oh, and by the way, since Riehl is fascinated with his own genital size as is Tyson, why doesn’t Riehl challenge Tyson to a measurement where the one who is smaller performs Oral Sex on the winner. Tyson needs the comeback, and Riehl could show us what he really wants in life.

  • Anonymous

    wow. can this get more nasty? 

  • HawkCW4

    Tommy when you screw around,  expect to be screwed with.  No one    NO ONE is as sleezy and slimy as you Liberals when it comes to slimmmming a Conservative you dont happen to like or you are scared of   which would be Palin at the moment.   So if you dont like getting wet, stay the hell out of the water.

  • Anonymous

    I hope you’re joking!

  • Anonymous

    are you really proud of this post?

  • Anonymous

    I believe you do.

  • Anonymous

    You should be proud of the way you have handled yourself here. I think this Riehl is a reprehensible and vile person, and I am Republican.

    You = conformist parroting, fearful anger, morally bankrupt. Blanket statements like yours just show how ignorant you really are.

  • Anonymous

    Wait for it, the day is young.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ECYBIXNKAG5E46BC3GCJQPA7CQ well_its_no_cannibal_holocaust

    Peace brother.

  • http://www.thefriendcenter.com/ SoThere

    Liberal garbage and ignorance on display for normal people to see.

    Thanks.”TMP”

  • Anonymous

    I don’t post to be proud…I post my honest opinions.
    If you have a problem with that….then….well….you have a problem.
    Are you really proud of your stupid question?

  • Anonymous

    glad there are no bigots in our country.as far as the stupid comments sorry won’t be stooping to your level

  • tjproudamerican

    Conservatives have no moral values. A loathsome writer tells a presumably female blogger to look at his wiener and implies it is big–read Riehl’s comment/threat–in response to Mike Tyson claiming, with due reason, that he is hung like a horse. So let Dan Riehl the braggart face off against Mike Tyson. That is just good politics, and even conservatives know it.

    But Riehl also posted a photo of a 4 year old girl to invite mayhem and to make an unfounded accusation of child exploitation. Conservative response: mostly yawns, defenses, and an occasional racist attack on President Obama.

    I post a challenge to the conformist conservative (sorry for the redundancy here, but the David Frum’s and Danial Larison’s are equally absent in mainstream conservative parrot-talking, “Bawk! Conservative wants a cracker! Bawk, Conservative must quote Fatso, the drug addled four times married Family Values Hedonist Hypocrite! Bawk! Bawk! Someone criticized the Wasilla Hillbillies Quitter, the half-term Governor, must go into convulsive state and call people ‘tards’ while displaying ‘Trig ’43′ President button!”).

    And the conformist conservatives, echoing each other, manage a “I’m not stupid. You are the one that is stupid” “defense of their inability to think morally. Situational Ethics have ruined today’s conservatives who mostly memorize their positions and move in lockstep.

  • Anonymous

     Get back on topic…Jimmy boy.
    You’re in over your head.
    Dumb-assed libtard.
    ROFLMAO!!

  • Anonymous

    One thing I try to do is to treat every one equal with no hate So I’m done with you. You just go ahead and keep posting with your bad self and I’ll let others like or dislike!

  • Anonymous

    WOW….Homobama would pay big money to be a spectator at that one.
     

  • Anonymous

    I don’t belong to Twitter. I am not advocating that I think Dan is perfect. I just learn to take people, such as Dan, with a grain of salt. I don’t know the ins and outs of who hangs out in DC. You need to step back and realize that Tucker is stupid and has a failing website. If you have a personal grievance with Dan, take it up with him. I don’t see why you would need to put this story on Mediaite. It’s quite silly.

  • Anonymous

    You don’t go onto someones Facebook and copy an innocent 4 year old girls’ picture and post it in a place it should not be and make such horrible accusations. That is beyond the pale for anyone and anyone who would defend such a creep has little to recommend them. I don’t care what any others have done from either political party. Anyone who would do that with a 4 year old girls picture is a creep and deserves to be called on it. That is indefensible. Period. End of story.

  • Anonymous

    I think maybe you have been kicked a few times- kicked in the head. It seems to have left you incapable of higher thinking skills. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Theresa-Darklady-Reed/581698361 Theresa ‘Darklady’ Reed

    So, you’d like to have pictures of your niece used in this way? You’d think it was funny?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Theresa-Darklady-Reed/581698361 Theresa ‘Darklady’ Reed

    What did the four-year-old do to deserve being “screwed with?”

    Funny how mentioning anything about the Palin family is abuse but showing photos of a toddler and claiming her uncle is a pedophile is a-ok with you. 

    Interesting values you’ve got there. No wonder I’m not a conservative.

  • Anonymous

    I should say its stunning to have watched how this meta story has evolved in the context of left leaning sites – going from a fairly obviously, sad commentary over the depths to which Palin Derangement Syndrome has been allowed to sink to be accepting of indulging a convicted rapist’s publicly fantasy of brutalizing Palin sexually – to now where its simply an attempt to get conservatives to go after each other for how they react to the story.

    But I’m not.

  • Anonymous

    So, remind me what that 4 year-old girl did to “screw with” Dan Riehl?

  • Alcibiades_d4

    I was sure the child pictured was a boy, about whom Poor, not Riehl, was making a sexual association- suggesting the boy was homosexual or that other men at a “training ground” for homosexuality would find him desirable. Poor is an ugly character.

  • Anonymous

    Why do the Palin’s kids get brought up over every “evil” act? If you’re not going to call out, on a consistent basis, that behavior (moderation on your own comment threads at Mediaite would be a start, then don’t expect me to be shocked when someone else does it.

    That doesn’t mean I condone it or like it. I just think you’re a hypocrite.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t think it was funny. Nor do I think it deserves an entire post by Tommy. It sounds like a personal agenda story.

  • Guest24

    You are sick and an embarrassment to out country. You are also stupid. No I’m not a liberal.
    I’m a conservative. You aren’t because you have no values or decency.
    People like you are a cancer in our country. Go somewhere else.

  • Anonymous

    Wow.  Tommy Christopher hates a conservative.  News at 11.

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