Our friend Jim Hoft has been doing a great job at Gateway Pundit examining the case of the dirty trick played on John McCain this week. I asked Jim to summarize his findings for us. Here is his report:
On Thursday John McCain held a town hall event in Des Moines, Iowa. During the question and answer session, a man, later identified as Marty Parrish, asked the following question:
Marty Parrish: This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I’ve been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a **** [perhaps the most vulgar word in the English language]?
McCain: Now, now. You don’t want to… Um, you know that’s the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don’t, there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language. So I’ll move on to the next questioner in the back. (Applause.)
The Huffington Post posted an account of the outrageous exchange and posted the video here. The Huffington Post described Parrish as a “Baptist Minister.” So did mainstream media reports on the exchange.
AllahPundit reported that Parris is a former campaign worker for Joe Biden. Keith Dinsmore later reported on the incident for the Huffington Post after interviewing Parrish here.
I subsequently discovered that Parrish was not just a “campaign worker” but actually ran the Biden campaign office in Des Moines. Here’s a photo that from Parrish’s site:
I also discovered that Parrish is now a big Obama supporter:
Yesterday I asked for and received the sign-in from the McCain event. Here is a copy:
You’ll notice that Marty Parrish signed in as press. You will also notice that Huffington Post reporter Keith Dinsmore signed in on the same sheet a couple of names below him.
Parrish said he made copies of the “****” accusations against McCain and handed them out before the event along with the MoveOn.org protesters who had gathered outside the event. The Huffington Post explains more on these anonymous charges against McCain here. According to John Gibson’s interview with Parrish cited here, the rumors were started by Soros lackeys.
Yesterday Tom Maguire made an interesting discovery. Parrish told reporters that he was a Baptist Minister. This is how the media described him. Yet nowhere on his site did he mention he was a Baptist Minister until he updated it yesterday. The Huffington Post appears to deny that Parrish is a HuffPo reporter. I am trying to get ahold of Marty’s church to verify his minister standing.
With Jim on the case, I think we can say, Drudge-style, that this story is developing….
JOHN adds: If that jerk is a Baptist minister, I’m the Pope.
UPDATE: For Part 2, go here.
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