As you’ve probably heard, the liberal gossip site Wonkette recently came under fire for mocking Sarah Palin’s 3-year-old special needs son Trig.
I don’t have to tell you this was utterly disgusting. But I am heartened to see some liberals speaking out and condemning the post. These folks have earned my respect for their willingness to stand up for what is right, even if it meant missing an opportunity to bash a Palin.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the liberals I have observed who were willing to publicly condemn this despicable post…
Columnist and pundit Kirsten Powers called it “sick.” Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann called it “unacceptable” and “crass.” Radio host Alan Colmes called it “truly despicable.” And Slate’s Dave Weigel (whose political ideology defies easy classification) noted, “ll stick up for any satire that doesn’t *make fun of a mentally disabled toddler*.”
Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher probably led the charge on Twitter. During an interview, he told me this was the right thing to do, because “liberals should denounce it to show we’re decent people — that we don’t let politics get in the way of common decency.”
“I find that too often when something like this happens,” Christopher explained, “the reaction by either side is to try to point out other examples of when the other side did it. That’s tempting [but] it let’s people off the hook for unacceptable behavior. Unacceptable behavior won’t stop unless the people in that audience make it unacceptable.”
Christopher also joked about the irony of the assertion that he — of all people — had become the conscience of the internet: “There’s nobody with a lower standard of taste than me. If something offends me, it must have been pretty fucking bad.”