I have been following developments in the tawdry "c*** stunt" involving Marty Parrish, the tacky Democrat who asked McCain at a town hall meeting if he had ever called his wife a "c***". (Gateway Pundit gets tremendous credit for uncovering new information in this case.)
One of the odd angles of the incident involves Parrish being identified as a Baptist minister. We have learned Parrish signed in to the event indicating he was with the Huffington Post. But speaking to reporters after the incident, Parrish told them he was a Baptist minister. The Huffington Post's article on the event identified Parrish as a "Baptist Minister." (The article has since been changed to omit references to Baptist minister but Gateway Pundit has a screen shot of the initial article, above.)
Below is a picture of HuffPo author Keith Dinsmore (on the left) standing next to an unidentified Biden supporter. Dinsmore's article claimed Parrish was a Baptist minister.
Keith Dinsmore worked with Parrish on the Biden campaign. Dinsmore was the communications director, Parrish was an office manager. Dinsmore and Parrish would presumably have known each other prior to the Town hall event, and Dinsmore should have disclosed that in his HuffPo piece. Did he really think Parrish was a Baptist minister?
To get more information on Parrish's minister claim, Scott Johnson spoke with the pastor at Parrish's former church in Arkansas, and gleaned important info:
I called Pastor Ron Kirkland of the First Baptist Church this morning to confirm that the Web site and the statement are the church's. Pastor Kirkland took my call and graciously explained that the church had been inundated with inquiries since Parrish's stunt. Pastor Kirkland confirmed that the site and the statement on it are his church's.
Pastor Kirkland patiently explained that Parrish had been a teen-age member of the church and expressed an interest in becoming a minister. The church issues "licenses" as a form of encouragement to young members who express such an interest. Pastor Kirkland stated that the license confers no authority or standing whatsoever. Although he believes Parrish was licensed by the church -- the church keeps no record of such licenses -- Pastor Kirkland concluded that Parrish's holding himself out as a Baptist minister is "erroneous."
Parrish's former church has posted a statement on their web site indicating Parrish has never been a minister of the church.
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First rule of left-wing web sites: Mistrust and verify.
