Behold the Awesome Power of 'Sources'

Robert Stacy McCain adds his unique perspective on the rumors of Sarah Palin's divorce:

Many Republicans have been heard to complain recently, “Hey, what’s wrong with you conservative bloggers? How come you can’t just make stuff up the way those left-wingers do? You need to get with this 21st-century Web 2.0 thing, OK?”

Yesterday, we discovered the problem: Conservative bloggers don’t have “sources” the way progressives do. Take for instance, the highly influential blog called Immoral Minority, which has been rockin’ the Site Meter lately. Their secret? Sources:

Earlier this week one of my best sources claimed to have explosive new information for me . . .

According to my source Sarah is finished with Todd and has decided to end their marriage . . .

As for the babygate story . . . my sources are still working on it, and the information is becoming more accessible . . .

It’s all about ”sources,” you see. Which is a big problem for conservative bloggers, because for some reason we can’t get any sources with intimate details of the marriages of prominent Democrats. Whereas the lefty bloggers make it look easy to find sources who know everything about Todd and Sarah Palin. Just check out CNN stringer/blogger Dennis Zaki:

AlaskaReport has learned today that Todd Palin and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are to divorce. Multiple sources in Wasilla and Anchorage (including a former Palin staffer) have confirmed the split.

Wow. So Friday night, the Immoral Majority gets this big scoop from one of their “best sources,” posts it at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, and within hours, Zaki’s story with “multiple sources” is the top item at Memeorandum!

Behold the awesome power of “sources,” ye conservatives, and tremble in fear!

But wait, what’s this? Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton issues a statement:

There is no truth to the recent “story” . . . that the Palins are divorcing. The Palins remain married, committed to each other and their family . . .

Ah, but Stapleton is not “sources,” is she? Nor is this person quoted by some conservative bloggers:

“Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd? I may be just a renegade hockey mom, but I’m not blind!”
– SARAH PALIN, 5:35 p.m. ET

Sorry, Mrs. Palin, this simply won’t do the job in the New Media environment. Anything said by someone with an actual name can never trump “sources,” as the amazing Immoral Minority demonstrated with a subsequent update:

More at the link.

And check Rick Moran, "Did Sarah Palin Just Pwn the Media With Divorce Rumors?":

As someone who doesn’t consider himself a journalist but who has been around newsrooms for many years, let me just say that if this had come across my desk, I would have smelled a set up. It’s too pat, the pieces fit too nicely together (an “explanation” for why she resigned) not to raise alarms with real journalists. So I think there is at least the possibility, that either someone in the Palin camp with an ax to grind with the media - or, less likely, Palin herself - whispered a few words to a birdie they were sure would get the word to people who would publish it.

The definition of “pwn” is “1. An act of dominating an opponent, and 2. Great, ingenious; applied to methods and objects.” If this was a set up by the Palin camp, it worked magnificently. Now, most of the lefty blogosphere has egg on their face.

Several Alaska bloggers hounded the former Alaskan governor with bogus ethics complaints while she was in office - Alaska Report being one of them. Could a little payback be at play here?

Stranger things have happened.

See also, The Politico, "Sarah Palin Beats Press to Blog Claim," and all the fuss at Memeorandum.