How would you view this?

Last week, Chris Graham of The Augusta Free Press / New Dominion wrote an article about Franklin County Democrat-ick Party Chairman Joe Stanley’s smear of the Old Dominion Blog Alliance where Mr. Stanley linked a fake ODBA website to that of NAMBLA (the North American Man-Boy Love Association — a group that promotes pedophilia.)  This was done after the ODBA set its collective sites on a candidate whom Mr. Stanley is supporting, state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds who is locked in a tight reelection battle with Jeff Evans.  Mr. Graham attempted to reach Mr. Stanley for comment on several occasions, but the promised reply never took place.

Now Joe Stanley and his cohort Ben Tribbett have gone whining to Mr. Graham that he misled Joe about the story he was writing.  I think anyone would be hard pressed to see how any of what Mr. Graham did was misleading.  Here is what Mr. Graham wrote to Mr. Stanley:

“I want to use the recent dustup involving the Old Dominion Blog Alliance and you as a case in point for my story. I want to focus the story on the matter of whether what happens in the blogosphere has an impact on the real world. I want to get your perspective on this for my story.”

. . .

Stanley told me today that he felt a line in the story that was published on the topic last week – “The key question that I wanted to ask Stanley was – do you think that this incident could end up hurting your political-consulting business?” – was an indication that I was being “disingenuous” in my earlier e-mail to him.

Tribbett picked up on that theme in his request for an interview with me.

“I’m also working on getting quotes from other reporters on the e-mail you sent. Especially whether sending an e-mail like this when you say in the story that ‘The key question that I wanted to ask Stanley was – do you think that this incident could end up hurting your political-consulting business?’ would be considered ethical reporting,” Tribbett wrote in his e-mail.

“Also I am asking them that if they did need to mislead someone to get a comment, would it then be appropriate to say that person didn’t comment when the inquiry was on a totally different topic,” Tribbett wrote.

. . .

I did try to relate to him that I don’t see the difference that he and Stanley are trying to point out – that the incident in question involving Stanley and the Old Dominion Blog Alliance is the matter of what had “happen(ed) in the blogosphere,” and that the matter of whatever possible impact the controversy that the ODBA is trying to stir up as a result is the “impact on the real world.”

Mr. Graham wraps up with this gem from Ben:

“Finally, I am planning to seek comments from statewide Democratic candidates on whether they would ever feel comfortable talking to you again,” Tribbett wrote.

I don’t know about you, but that would appear to me that these guys are now trying to smear this reporter with those candidates. I wonder if the reporters who wrote the articles for the Roanoke Times and the Franklin News Post have received similar phone calls from Laurel and Hardy here.

That truly is rich, coming from Tribbett who will blow a source’s confidentiality just so that he can advance his political party’s prospects.  Somehow I don’t see any such candidates avoiding Mr. Graham.  After all, you don’t see any of them coming to Joe and Ben’s defense on this, do you?

UPDATE:  Ward does this story justice only the way that Ward could do.