I had to respond to Michelle Malkin’s wild accusations about me from this post….

This is in response to this post by Michelle Malkin.

I did the right things for the right motives despite what Malkin thinks. She does not know me and to say,

“a conservative blogger [Wild Bill of Passionate America] has ginned up publicity for his work outing a 21-year-old young man–a former congressional page and current deputy campaign manager for a heartland Republican congressman–who received sexually explicit instant messages from disgraced Florida GOP Rep. Mark Foley when he was 17 and 18 years old. I have received several e-mails from the blogger and readers flogging the post.

I refused to link to the blogger then and even though the Drudge Report has plastered screaming headlines about the blogger’s scoop, I refuse to link to it now. There was absolutely no good reason to expose the former congressional page’s name and identity. Seizing on ABC News’ redaction failure and reporting errors (more on that in a moment) to play gotcha in a feeble attempt to avenge Foley is not a sufficient reason to obliterate the young man’s privacy. The young man was the prey, not the predator.“

First, my name is William Kerr not “a conservative blogger”.

Second, “has ginned up publicity” hey Michelle do you know me, do you have any idea beyond speculation and wild accusations as to what my motives were? No you don’t, do not pretend to know my motivations, you could have emailed me after I sent emails to you and a press release I could have explained myself to you, but no one listened me (except for real friends). I tried to send this story to other more qualified bloggers and media and no one responded to me, except Jay Tea from Wizbang who told me to never contact him again, but apologized after reading my post. Will you apologize Michelle?

Third, When he was 17 and 18 years old, Michelle can you prove when the IMs were made and can you prove that they have not been altered by anyone before they were published by ABC NEWS? No you can not. If you will look at the IMs you will notice that the time stamps are not in sequential order and ABC NEWS does not even provide a date stating when the emails were made.

Fourth, “obliterate the young man’s privacy” he is 21 now! He is a public figure if it is found that the young man as you like to call him was 18 during all of the IMs or has made the whole thing up will you defend Mark Foley’s right to privacy? I said in my post several times I think Mark Foley is a scum bag and if he is found guilty should have the book thrown at him.

Fifth, “The young man was the prey, not the predator.” Can you prove that Michelle? No you cannot. When the investigation is complete and I might have to testify in front of the House Ethics Committee then we will know for sure if the young man, as you put it, is in fact prey. Foley is disgusting for what he did, but there are too many questions left unanswered for you to claim to know my motive and pretend to know the truth.

I believe you Michelle are acting more like a liberal than me by letting your feeling lead you to wild conclusions that you can not back up and impugning my character in the process. I still have respect for you and believe your writing has inspired me over the years to stand up for what is right and that is getting out the truth. I know that is what I did and I hope someday you can see that also.

When it is so easy to determine that Drudge’s banner is inaccurate, let’s not descend toward the moral equivalency crowd by defending it as less misleading…

I don’t understand this.

None of us are defending Foley.

What we are doing, is exposing Democrats trying to take this one Congressman’s vile actions and trying to smear our leaders, our party with this excrement.

And it’s somehow wrong to expose them for it?

How many more people are we willing to sacrifice so the Dems and their MSM sycophants will be satisfied and “play nice”?

I haven’t seen any reason why Speaker Hastert should resign. We’ve already lost Tom DeLay. Shall we draft up a “Sorry, I should have known and monitored (so and so) 24/7 , so the buck stops here, and I am hereby resigning. Mea culpa, mea culpa….” for the next Republican leader who happens to be in charge next time the MSM digs up dirt on a Republican official?

When are we going to have enough, and start fighting back?

That is the problem I am having with my party right now. No spine!

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU OCT 5 2006 2:53:48 ET XXXXX

CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE MESSAGES WERE PAGE PRANK GONE AWRY
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**

According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.

I guess I was right in questioning where these IM’s were comming from after all. Chalk it up to it being impossible to be wrong all of the time. ;o)

I think that Drudge’s headline is more accurate than ABC’s coverage.

Drudge’s headline might be closer to accurate, but playing the game of degrees of inaccuracy is a losing one. Truth is about the TRUTH, not how far or close one gets to it without hitting it.

When it is so easy to determine that Drudge’s banner is inaccurate, let’s not descend toward the moral equivalency crowd by defending it as less misleading…

Michelle’s example is an excellent one, and worthy of emulation. Drudge does society a service with his fast and widespread accessibility to news items, but tilting for attention isn’t in anyone’s best interest. The Old Media still hasn’t learned this lesson, and it’s a lesson that folks such as Matt Drudge started teaching.

- Foley is a creep. It remains to be seen if he is a criminal under the law, but he has no right to a position of public service ever again

- The victims are the victims, not “accusers”

- Any peers who “enabled” Foley in any way are culpable for an equal share of blame, derision and potential censure

- Any “news” persons, bloggers, etc. who exercised bad judgement in using an innocent’s name to either mitigate the severity of Foley’s behavior or misdirect anger at another target, need to seriously adjust their thinking

Thanks Michelle, Bryan, Allah

Michelle takes Drudge Report and other conservative websites to task for the vengeful outing of Rep. Foley’s victim.

Bryan Preston …

The information will come out, being first with it won’t solve anything, let the other side jump in, and show how badly they can do things because that’s. not. our. way.

The blogosphere can be a fun and heady place. It can also be backbiting and libelous terrain. However humble were blogging’s beginnings, the medium has morphed into a powerful display of citizen journalism and captures the essence of free speech…

This is just atrocious, people. … It’s so depressing, I feel compelled to joke about it. I am not mentally strong enough to cope with taking it seriously, and this is where the Ace of Spades Lifestyle is a real beacon of hope in the darkness of desp…

The webmaster’s blog-within-a-blog. Continuously updated, newest items at the top. Please click here to learn more about The Phoenix Project, then click here to see a selection of Old War Dogs merchandise. All sales proceeds go to support The Phoenix…

Yeah, there’s a pretty strong chance of new information emerging. But not necessarily new information that places him in legal jeopardy.

If the kid was under 18, their IM chats are probably illegal, under a law Foley co-sponsored.

You’re so right.

Who’s gonna use it? Aravosis? Rogers? Atrios? Hamsher?

All of them. “EVEN MICHELLE MALKIN’S CALLING IT A ‘CONSERVATIVE OUTING MOB!’”

Drudge may have decided to take a slightly less “nuanced” view in his headline to try to inject a little balance into the media orgy. — DaveS

Yeah! — Allahpundit

Yeah!

Sorry. I got bored for a second.

Just saw the boss’s new post. It was kind of her to coin a new term for use by lefty bloggers. Heh.

Who’s gonna use it? Aravosis? Rogers? Atrios? Hamsher?

Maybe KP. Not anyone else.