An Ugly, Unsubstantiated Allegation

The Gannon story is taking an ugly turn. I'm torn about even posting about the unsubstantiated rumor that follows, especially after reading 70 comments to research it. Many are crazed and delusional, diminishing the credibility of the original allegation. Nevertheless, there's a chance you'll be reading more about this, so hold your nose and read on.

In a comment signed by Thorn (later clarified as Thom) to a post about Gannon on The Raw Story, an utterly unsubstantiated allegation is made that Thorn, a male, had sex with Karl Rove at a Young Republican convention in 1970.

Let's get this on the record right away: Karl Rove is married, to a woman, Darby.

What follows Thom's post is astonishing.

Two posts later, Thom is asked to contact another blog, Ameriblog, with details on his allegations, indicating that this story might be around for a while. There's nothing posted about Thom at Ameriblog yet as of 11:40 p.m. PST.

One commenter tries to point out that there's nothing in Thom's allegations that is illegal, but that's the only point of reason; a blogstorm of ugliness follows. The very next comment is from someone who wants to blow the story sky-high and thinks doing such a thing to a Republican might be dangerous:

Thorn, if your story is true, you need to do a lot more than talk to a blogger. You need to document everything that can substantiate your claim. The more you have the safer you’ll be. Regardless of whether or not you’re telling the truth, you have identified yourself as a threat to very important people who’ll do anything to remain in power. And I mean you have identified yourself - it wouldn’t take a day to track you down. Don’t go near the bathtub in motel rooms. This isn’t a joke.

Many of the comments are gleeful of Thom's post, seeing it as an opportunity to drag down the Bush White House. Then, being leftists, extremism enters with wild allegations about Bush and everyone on his staff in a frenzy of intolerance. There are also conspiracy theories:

Has anyone noticed that it wasn’t until this thing started to break that they announced that Rove was getting an official position in the administration. Could this be to make it harder for the MSM to get to him? Is it harder to subpoena a member of the presidents staff then just an ‘adviser’?

The level of hate in these comments is shocking. They're vicious, unsubstantiated and unreasonable -- the sort of thing that really discredits the blogosphere, making it seem like a purveyor of lies, innuendo and destructive rumors, not a source of news.

Bottom line: No facts, lots of ugliness and vileness from the left ... but given their glee level, leftyblogs will very likely flog this rumor for a while.