Wonkette’s Jack Stuef published a vile post “celebrating” Trig Palin’s birthday on Monday that called Trig “irredeemably vile” and “unfunny,” “disgraceful” and “gross.” After a massive blacklash, the liberal blog removed the post.
The Wonkette post said: “What’s he dreaming about? Nothing. He’s retarded. His mom went to a lot of trouble to leak amniotic fluid over 8 states to make sure that he arrived in this world somewhat alive. Enjoy yourself today, Trig. Have fun! Get drunk (on purpose this time)! We can hardly wait for 15 years from now, when you will finally be able to vote and will be sent off by your mother’s junta to fight the Union in the Great Alaska War. It’ll be quite a loss. You’re the smartest one in that family.”
Wonkette editor Ken Layne originally attempted to defend the post but eventually removed Stuef’s byline from it and added an apology that was less of an apology and more of a defense of the post as supposed political satire and attempting to paint a picture of Sarah Palin as someone who uses her son as a political prop.
Wonkette noted the removal of the post with the headline, “Rude Post Deleted By Editor; Author Apologizes.”
A post on this page satirizing Sarah Palin using her baby as a political prop was very badly done and sounded like the author was mocking the child and not just Sarah Palin/Sarah Palin’s followers.
The writer, Jack Stuef, has apologized for it. And we have decided to remove the post as requested by some people who have nothing to do with Sarah Palin, but who do have an interest in the cause of special needs children. We apologize for the poor comedic judgment.
Tommy Christopher of Mediaite has been following the controversy and responded this way:
On the subject of Wonkette’s deletion, I am of two minds. Layne’s original decision to leave it up had the benefit of being both journalistically transparent, and a permanent shame-monument. On the other hand, it also served as a sort of perpetual frag grenade, injuring anew every time it would be viewed. For that reason, I suppose the deletion is a good thing.
What’s not so good is Layne’s description of the post, which may be honest in his own eyes, but is far from accurate. That’s the downside of this approach, but there’s nothing preventing Wonkette from adding a fairer description.
Pro-life blogger Thomas Peters also responded to the news that the offensive post had been removed: “The writer has since apologized for it, as has Wonkette. But they both have a long history of doing this sort of thing, so we have to remain vigilant when kids (and pro-life choices) are mocked to score political points. I’m very proud to see, however, how many organizations chose to have nothing to do with a website that allowed one of its writers to say such horrible things about an innocent little child. This episode should also reminds us of the tragic fact that over 90% of children diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted! We’re lucky to have little Trig among us, even if not everyone sees that yet.”
The apologies have not stopped a concerted effort on Twitter to get advertisers to drop Wonkette — some of which did not know that third-party advertising programs were posting their ads on the liberal, pro-abortion blog.
The Papa Johns pizza chain responded to inquiries saying, “Thank you for alerting us to this. We’ve taken steps to make sure our advertising doesn’t appear on that site in the future.” Huggies and Vanguard have followed suit.
Huggies diapers also pulled their ads, saying, “We do not support the Wonkette story and have taken action to pull ourads effective immediately. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention.”
Numerous other companies also pulled their ads on Wonkette.
The Wonkette post makes fun of Palin for posting a birthday message to Trig online:
Sweet Angel Boy…
Oh, little boy what are you dreaming about
Candy canes and mom’s sweet hugsOh, sweet baby boy what are you dreaming about
Play cars…trains…planes and a daddy’s strong hands as he lifts you high and makes you laugh…oh, how safe you feel in those handsOh, little boy what are dreaming about
Sisters who play with you…and teach you new wordsOh, as you sleep little boy what are you dreaming about
A big bother that carries you on his shoulders…as he shows you the blue skyOh, little boy what are you dreaming about
A mother’s soft lullaby…the soft touch of her hand…the soft sound of her voice as she says “I Love You”
Dream on little boy as the Angels stand guard
The attack on the son of the pro-life former Alaska governor comes at a time when pro-life advocates are concerned about statistics showing approximately 90 percent of unborn children who are diagnosed with Down Syndrome become victims of abortion.
