Jazz Shaw Apologizes - Calls for Left's Mea Culpa on Sparkman Suicide, and for Others to 'Set the Record Straight'

Hey, I think folks should give credit where credit's due.

Jazz Shaw, at the Moderate Voice, has apologized for his insinuations that conservatives were responsible for the death of Bill Sparkman: "The Census Worker Suicide":

At the time, I wrongly jumped to a conclusion in my column, The Ghouls Surrounding Bill Sparkman. I assumed at that time that the most likely cause of death was murder by some local moonshiners or pot farmers or other mountain folk up to no good. Obviously, I was incorrect, and I apologize. This was obviously an ill and deeply troubled man, dealing with an illness, a lack of a job and family problems, who decided to take this route out of his problems.

Of course, there were some other writers in Blogtopia and MSM who also jumped to their own conclusion about how Sparkman died... theories which have not panned out given the current evidence. I’m sure they will be along shortly with their own apologies to set the record straight.

That takes a lot of courage and integrity. I have been highly critical of the writers at Moderate Voice for being, well, not so moderate. But Jazz Shaw's apology is classy, and no doubt will be a rarity in a political environment increasingly hate-filled and polarized.

That said, as a follow up from this afternoon, I'm reiterating my call for Larisa Alexandrovna -- who has smeared me personally as racist -- to issue an apology and retraction for her Bill Sparkman race-baiting. Ms. Alexandrovna's racist allegations against conservatives seek to delegitimized partisanship and shut down debate -- these smears are all the leftists have left, so don't expect much from these people, so intent to gain political capital from the cult of victimology.

That said, Mark Kleiman has offered a retraction, if not an apology:

It turns out that the death of a census worker in Kentucky was a suicide, not an act of domestic terrorism. Thus, contrary to my earlier speculation, the people who have been trying to whip up panic fear of the federal government in general and the Census in particular aren’t in fact responsible for the killing.

That said, Charles Johnson continues to refuse an apology.

Readers are asked to drop additional retractions (or apologies) in the comments, and I'll update.

See also, Pirate's Cove, "Kentucky Census Worker Officially Comitted Suicide, the Left Completely Pwnd."