Dr Laura Schlessinger, Deryk Schlessinger MySpace Controversy

JUMPING THE GUN

Partisan Reporter Leads Nutroots Into Shaky Territory







With "progressives" now chomping at the bit to take down conservative talkers, the mainstream media and their blogospheric fellow- travellers are in a frantic race to see who can destroy a major host. Which one will claim the biggest trophy?

That's most certainly what motivated NBC's Today Show to do yesterday's anti- Rush Limbaugh hit piece. With El Rushbo proving difficult to eliminate, however, lefties are looking around for other targets.

An obvious alternative is Dr Laura Schlessinger, who refuses to leave the airwaves even after years of savage attacks from the "progressive" left.

Now, damning allegations against son Deryk, currently serving our country in Afghanistan, are providing the "nutroots" with mountains of anti- Laura fodder. According to Matthew LaPlante of the Salt Lake Tribune, he has been linked to a "lurid web page" containing "violent, sex- oriented images" that could be considered repulsive.

From the story:

The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called "repulsive."

The MySpace page, publicly available until Friday when it disappeared from the Internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned "My Sweet Little Habib"; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets.

The site is credited to and includes many photographs of Deryk Schlessinger, the 21-year-old son of the talk radio personality known simply as Dr. Laura. Broadcast locally on 570 KNRS, "Family Values Talk Radio," the former family counselor spends three hours daily taking calls and offering advice on morals, ethics and values. She broadcast a show from Fort Douglas, in Salt Lake City, last week.

But are the charges true, or have our "progressive" friends gotten carried away? Lefty bloggers didn't wait for confirmation that any of the obscene material found on the MySpace site was actually created by Schlessinger.

Instead, they've declared Deryk guilty and his mother as well, merely by association. Making no bones about their partisan dislike of the Schlessinger family, "progressive" bloggers are foaming at the mouth.

From the Pensito Review:

Laura Schlessinger, the rightwing radio hatemonger, is back in the news. Last week, she told military families to stop whining about life at home while their loved ones are deployed:

“He could come back without arms, legs and eyeballs, and you’re bitching?”

Now Schlessinger’s son, Deryk, who is serving in the military in Afghanistan, is accused of publishing horrific graphics and messages on his MySpace page:

[...]

On one hand, it’s not surprising that a parent as filled with hatred and rage as Laura Schlessinger would produce a child who is a monster — nonetheless, what Deryk allegedly posted here is beyond shocking

From the sewer- dwelling BradBlog:

Looks like the faux doctor, one-time exhibitionist (graphic link very not safe for work!), American Patron Saint of Hubris, and her kid's mom, may not have done such a bang-up job in that "essential task of teaching them right and wrong" after all. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that her son, Deryk, now stationed with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, is "under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called 'repulsive.'"

From the FOX- hating News Hounds site:

Going beyond the infuriating hypocrisy of Laura Schlessinger coming off like she alone understands the mental needs of the " warriors" who must not be bothered by the realities of life without them at home, this is all very sad. Schlessinger has created an illusion of nobility and sacrifice around her warrior son who posts things like this on his blog.

And the idiots at Wonkette launched a particularly savage attack, blaming Deryk in advance for future terrorist strikes:

When the bombs finally start falling on Washington and every other city in the United States, here is one of the 300 million reasons:

[Salt Lake Tribune excerpt omitted here, see it above]

More precious freedoms, after the jump.

We’re delighted to learn that the current crop of screaming idiots on talk radio are producing a more action-oriented spawn who are now bringing their special American Values™ directly to other countries. Yelling on the radio about killing all the A-rabs is one thing; actually raping and torturing and murdering “foreigners,” in their own countries while directly employed by the American military, is surely the New Freedom.

Dr. Laura’s psychotic 21-year-old son — one of the U.S. Army’s fresh new faces — claimed on the MySpace page that his “job” was “running around this horrid place doing nasty things to people that deserve it … and some that don’t.”

After removing the partisan froth, however, some gaping holes in the anti- Laura agenda emerge. Among them:


The story seems to have originated with a newspaper reporter who has a history of attacking Dr Laura. In fact, Matthew LaPlante has been criticized by his publication's readers for being unable to contain his dislike for her.


Perhaps because of concerns about the story, few other newspapers picked it up, which seems atypical for such a potentially damning story about a conservative leader's son. A Google search late Monday found only a handful of publications running LaPlante's work.


LaPlante himself hedges a bit, giving himself some room in case the site's obscene materials later prove to be linked to one of Deryk's fellow soldiers (or someone else entirely):

The site indicated Schlessinger's team has survived numerous mortar, rocket and roadside bomb attacks. It also included several graphic cartoons. In one of the stick drawings, a top-hatted man laughs as he rapes a bound and bleeding woman in front of her family. In another depiction, a man forces a boy to perform oral sex at knifepoint as the child's mother pleads for her son's life.

It's unclear who created the cartoons, but Army spokesman Robert Tallman said the drawings "are repulsive and not anywhere near being acceptable," for a soldier's personal Web page.

And, most importantly, Dr Laura is not responsible for what her adult son does while serving in Afghanistan. If Deryk was indeed behind the offensive material, he will pay the price. It simply has no bearing on the status of Dr Laura's syndicated talk show.

Sometimes even the best parents see their grown children make poor choices and that may prove to be the case here.

To our "progressive" friends, here's a message: yes, you failed at talk radio and now feel justified in launching angry smear campaigns against conservative hosts. But we know what you're up to and will fight back.



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Top photo: via Pensito Review