Anchorage Daily News -- and McClatchy -- still going mental over Sarah Palin

Here is the latest hysterical overreaction by the Anchorage Daily News to a what is really a non-story involving Sarah Palin.

Palin-obsessed reporter Lisa Demer (above) flipped out when she learned SarahPAC received a request from the FEC for more information and requested correction of a filing mistake. Demer filed a piece with the headline "SarahPAC taken to task by feds for illegal contributions."  (The ADN headline has since been changed but below is a screen grab of the original headline.)





You wouldn't know it from Demers' piece, but according to Daniel Terrapin, these requests from FEC are routine.

"...these letters are common. A few other PACs that have received similar letters, called "Requests For Additional Information (RFAI)", from the FEC include: Barack Obama's Hopefund, Inc. with 16; John Kerry's Citizen Soldier Fund with 17; Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC Inc. with 9; and many others."

Did you see ADN reporter Lisa Demers -- or McClatchy -- publish a story about an Obama PAC being "taken to task by the feds" after Obama's PAC got the same routine letter from the FEC?  Didn't think so.

Screenshot credit: Conservatives4Palin. .

Unhinged McClatchy editor sends reporter to investigate loopy Palin conspiracy theory, blames other nutcases when Palin calls him out

When it comes to Sarah Palin, people at McClatchy seems to have thrown out journalistic standards. Latest evidence: The Anchorage Daily News sent a reporter out to investigate the loopy conspiracy theory that Sarah Palin is not the mother of Trig Palin.

Investigative reporter Lisa Demer was dispatched to look into whether Sarah Palin actually gave birth to Trig.  Demer talked to people in state government, medical people, the school district. I wouldn't be surprised if she went through through the dumpsters around Wasilla. When the word got back to Palin, her office issued a press release smacking down the nutcase rumor-mongers, including the Anchorage Daily News. From the press release:

"... Meanwhile, bloggers, the Atlantic magazine and even the Anchorage Daily News continue to give credence to the sensational allegation that the governor’s child, Trig, is not hers.

“As a public official, I expect criticism and I expect to be held accountable for how I govern,” Gov. Palin said. “But the personal, salacious nature of recent reporting, and often the refusal of the media to correct obvious mistakes, unfortunately discredits too many in journalism today, making it difficult for many Americans to believe what they see in the media.”

After Palin's smackdown, ADN executive editor Pat Dougherty (above) printed a lame response in the Anchorage Daily News.  First he said he never believed the rumors. Then -- and here's the choice part -- he blamed other nutcases for forcing his newspaper to do a story on the rumor.

"I want to be very clear on this: I have from the beginning and do now consider the conspiracy theories about Trig's birth to be nutty nonsense.

"If that's true, why has Lisa Demer been asking questions about Trig's birth?

"Because we have been amazed by the widespread and enduring quality of these rumors. I finally decided, after watching this go on unabated for months, to let a reporter try to do a story about the "conspiracy theory that would not die" and, possibly, report the facts of Trig's birth thoroughly enough to kill the nonsense once and for all."

So the paper tries to hype up a discredited rumor by doing a story on the rumor. And when called out by Palin, the editor blames nutcases for for forcing him to act like a crazy man. Isn't that beautiful? (Photo: Rich Jordan/KTUU-TV) Hat tip: email.