Let's Play The Joe Stanley Game

With the sturm und drang over Joe Stanley's stunt --- linking an ODBA-like domain to the website for the vile organization NAMBLA --- many ODBA members have been rightly fulminating with outrage. I've even said a few things, here and here.

Now, I have a confession: before this little contretemps, I neither knew nor much cared about who Joe Stanley was.

I do now.

It seems that Stanley has now published a commentary on Ben Tribbett's website about his behavior. Since it is so hideously idiotic, and may soon disappear, I reproduce it in full below. Stanley's diatribe is little more than McCarthyism, since it attacks the entirety of the ODBA --- including those, like me, who until a few days ago wouldn't have known him if we tripped over him --- as an organization akin to group advocating the raping of little boys.

Now, as the father of two adorable little boys --- and having once been one (a boy, that is, not "adorable") myself --- I have a non-existent level of tolerance for those who prey sexually upon them. I therefore personally believe that Joe Stanley is due a good horse-whipping. But never mind that.

Those who are not inclined to read the entire turgid and rambling study in the considered sanctimony of the far Left need only focus on the relevant portion, in which Stanley equates actions by certain ODBA members with child homosexual rape:

While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by the organization.

Boy! Old Joe has a point! And now you, too, can play along with the Joe Stanley Game! Just fill in the blank ("While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by ______________") with your favorite organization or disasterous Federal socialist welfare program.

1. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [the Democrat Party]."

2. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [quotas]."

3. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [EMILY's List")."

4. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [labor unions]." (That one's for you, Lowell).

5. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [Ranting Kids... er, Raising Dough... er, Raising Kaine]."

You can do it with individuals, too.

6. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [Tim Kaine]."

7. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [Mark Warner]."

8. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [Bill Clinton]."

9. "While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by [Teddy Kennedy]."

And there you have it: the Joe Stanley Game! Smear your favorite political opponent by claiming that he or she "hurt[s]" "no fewer individuals" than those who would homosexually rape young boys.
_________________________

Here is the entire, pathetic piece:

The Old Dominion Blog Alliance and Their Tactics of Terror

The Old Dominion Blog Alliance is a loose collection of individuals who blog in order to promote a conservative political agenda. That, in and of itself, would be great if that was all it was.

Unfortunately, this group’s most vocal members are a coven of ill-informed, fulminating, bullies so overwrought with political passion that they have lost all sight of fairness, civility, and discretion. Their detachment from reality has led them so far off the path that they know no bounds, no extent, and no depths to which they will not stoop.

After these gutless invertebrate have spent weeks conspiring to destroy an individual for holding a belief or idea that was not pre-approved by the ODBA they then scurry and cry foul when responded to. The sanctimonious among them quote the Old Testament with forked tongues and their chief pettifogger steps away from busting rocks to promise frivolous lawsuits.

The less vocal members of this organization sit on their hands and shake their heads. “It’s not us! We didn’t say anything!” It somehow fails to dawn on them that they have lent this organization credence by lending it their names. Abraham Lincoln once said, “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."

These silent sheep are being used as virtual shields to protect the lowest of the ODBA.

In the early summer of 2007, I volunteered my services to Senator Roscoe Reynolds. I believe Senator Reynolds is a strong advocate for Southwest Virginia and all working Virginians. The extent of my volunteer services was to build a pro-Reynolds site. Quite frankly, Mr. Evans poor showing in this race leaves Senator Reynolds virtually unopposed. He has no need to even mention Evans’ name, much less talk about his character or lack thereof.

Unfortunately, Evans’ campaign manager and cowardly ODBA member Alton Foley spoon fed his fellow bloggers some reality-altering kool-aid. It is their fantasy that if they can bloody Reynolds on the net then they’ll beat him at the ballot box. Their first attack on Senator Reynolds was for “hiring” me and a rehash of their outrageous attacks upon me from the 2006 cycle.

What they don’t understand is that attacking the staff, much less a volunteer doesn’t push votes. That is process–inside baseball–and no one cares. When their attacks failed to take root they became harsher, continuing their attacks upon me and my business. They were very persistent and never let the facts get in their way.

Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. And Here.

Don't forget this one where Kat Wilton advises, "Politics is a hard-hitting and frequently rough arena for people to play in, and if you can't take the heat, get the bloody hell out of the kitchen!" I suppose that is a one way street.

It was apparent that the attacks were coordinated and getting more and more personal. When the ODBA cannot win by promoting their ideas, they try and bully everyone else out of the room. If they scare off the staff and volunteers, in their mind, what will Reynolds do? He’ll win. He will win either way because he is the best man in this race and one of the best in the Virginia Senate.

At some point, I was angered at being attacked for no reason and more so by having my business and livelihood targeted. I decided to speculate the domain www.olddominionblogalliance.com. At that point I was still opposed to domain names of the individuals involved.

At no point did I ask anyone for their advice or consent on the path I was taking. What I do in my time is my business and my business alone.

I started to point it to a prominent Democratic site, but I don’t know of anyone who wants to be associated with these hate mongers and flat-earthers. I considered pointing the domain to a jihadist web site to draw a comparison on the extremism present in both groups. While I think the ODBA and their ilk eat away at the very core of what we are as a nation, I don’t think the ODBA is anti-American so decided to look elsewhere. One group stood out as equally loathsome and cowardly.

NAMBLA is an organization that advocates a set of beliefs that turn my stomach. Through misinformation, prevarication, and a false sense of earnestness, they pursue a predatory agenda that brings direct harm to countless innocent individuals. Their primary defense is the first amendment.

It is my opinion that the ODBA conducts itself in much the same way. While the end product is far less repugnant than pedophilia, no fewer individuals are hurt by the organization. The main distinction I can make between the two organizations is that NAMBLA believes in the first amendment, and ODBA only believes in their right to free speech.

I said as much to Jim Riley in an email when I was first asked about the domain.

This was not a joke, a prank, or any other kind of political horseplay. I meant the comparison. In short order, the ODBA proved my point once again. They were shocked that someone would fire back. I had sullied their “good name.” They quoted scripture, made fat jokes, threatened me and promised lawsuits. None of this bothers me as I would expect no less from these miscreants.

They have fabricated my right to political free-speech into a scandal on their blogs. They even issued a laughable press release on a Saturday morning.

They have lied about and attacked my business associates, social acquaintances, and anyone even remotely connected with me. When that didn’t get them anywhere these jackals then attacked my deceased mother, and are now going after my minor-aged daughter. One member, a Portsmouth, Virginia police officer who has a daycare center operated out of his home, published my home address and phone number to the web while his cohorts made unspeakable accusations regarding my fitness as a parent.

The genesis of all this hysteria was a free, positive web site for Sen. Reynolds.

The ODBA is out of control. They need to be stopped.

- Joe Stanley

The only one who needs to be stopped, dearest Joe, are those who would equate their political foes with the lowest of the low, individuals whom even the criminal element hold in contempt.