Olbermann on what motivated Coulter 'acolyte' to allegedly send threatening 'white powder' letters
11/15/2006 @ 3:34 pm
Filed by David Edwards and Ron Brynaert
On Tuesday night, Keith Olbermann speculated about what may have motivated a California man, reported to be an acolyte of conservative pundits such as Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin, to allegedly send threatening letters to personalities including the MSNBC host himself.
39-year-old Chad Castagana was arrested on Saturday, accused of sending more than a dozen envelopes containing "fake anthrax" to anti-war celebrities, journalists, and politicians.
"Castagana has also been identified as a gushing online admirer of Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham," Olbermann said. "And the Web site RAW STORY reports that many bloggers believe he is also a contributor, under a different name, to the conservative Web site Free Republic."
Users at the liberal websites Democratic Underground and Daily Kos brought to light the similarities between Castagana's Internet footprint and Costanzo's writings at Free Republic, and RAW STORY unearthed a series of eyebrow-raising connections between the two men, as reported on Monday.
In one Free Republic post first cited here, Costanzo contends that he hails from the town of Woodlands Hills; the same city where Castagana was arrested.
"Sorry I was so late in replying, but this room were I am working online from is a scorcher in the afternoon," Constanzo wrote in July of this year. "Tempertures were 106 degrees in the shade this Saturday, here in Woodland Hills."
Olbermann's guest on Tuesday night, Radar Online senior writer John Cook, who has reported on Castagana's Internet writings and published an FBI affidavit, linked the alleged white powder hoaxer's actions to comments made by conservative pundits such as Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin.
"And I mean, I don’t think we can always hold these people responsible for the actions of the least hinged of their followers, but I think it is clear that he was an acolyte of the Coulters and the Malkins, and I think that they clearly enjoy having acolytes, and they clearly sort of issue calls to action -- not necessarily to send threatening powder-filled envelopes to you in so many words, but they certainly exhort their followers to let themselves be known," said Cook.
Newsbusters, a Web site devoted to "exposing and combating liberal media bias," slams Olbermann for "going after conservatives" while showing "little interest" in "recent revelations of Democratic Congressman Murtha's involvement in a bribery scandal."
"While the NBC Nightly News had earlier run a story by correspondent Lisa Myers describing Murtha's involvement in the ABSCAM scandal, even showing a secretly recorded video of Murtha speaking with an undercover FBI informant about potential bribery, Olbermann only vaguely referred to a Washington Post article citing 'Democratic concerns over Murtha's alleged ethics issues,' as the Countdown host provided no details on the scandal," Brad Wilmouth wrote for Newsbusters. "But Olbermann spent almost seven minutes discussing conservative bloggers and domestic terrorism."
In an open letter to Olbermann posted at its Web site, Olbermann Watch vows "We will not be intimidated."
"While we are generally amused by your megalomania, you have lurched into dangerous territory in your attempt to link Castagana to 'right-wing blogs' thus tarring all bloggers that do not agree with your world view as advocating, condoning or turning a blind-eye to terroristic 'pranks' like those alleged of Castagana," the site's editor Robert Cox writes.
"We're sorry some nut job sent you a threatening letter but that has nothing to do with us and we fully intend to keep on documenting your fact-challenged reporting and hypocritical claims of being non-partisan as you shill for the far-left wing of the Democratic party," Cox promises.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15721895/
FULL TRANSCRIPT AT MSNBC.COM