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

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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