Ex-Palin spokesman, Bill McAllister, threatens to slap Professor for writing research paper questioning why the media ignored the rumors of Sarah's faked pregnancy. Update!

Courtesy of The Northerner:

A Northern Kentucky University professor’s research about how the news media handled rumors of a pregnancy hoax by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has gotten a spirited response from her former spokesman.

In his paper “Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor,” associate journalism professor Brad Scharlott explores how the press handled the rumor that Trig Palin may not actually be the son of Sarah Palin, asserting that there was enough evidence of a pregnancy hoax to warrant asking more questions.

“[There’s] a theory out of mass communications that ideas not in the mainstream can be squeezed out of the public sphere entirely,” Scharlott said. “I think that’s what happened with the idea that Palin may have faked the pregnancy and now, while some people may privately speak about it, no one in America wants to be quoted about it.”

Once Scharlott completed his research, he said he submitted a copy to Bill McAllister, who is currently the communications director for the Alaska Department of Law and had previously served as the communications director for Sarah Palin during her vice-presidential bid in 2008.

“[In the paper,] I suggest that he was in fact, possibly, involved in a hoax,” Scharlott said.

“In the spirit of fairness, I thought he should get a copy. That’s what journalists normally do.”

After sending his research to McAllister, Scharlott said he was not expecting what came next.

“If we ever meet, I’ll slap you,” McAllister wrote in an email to Scharlott on April 5. “In a different era, I’d challenge you to a duel.”

McAlliser’s email continued, calling Scharlott a “scoundrel” and “despicable.” He then forwarded his response to Scharlott to five other members of the Communications Department, with the subject line “Brad Scharlott disgraces your university.”

“He should be fired, frankly,” McAllister said. “I can’t believe [the] university is going to let some idiot present a paper [like this.]”

Oooh, can you say "overly sensitive?"  WTF? 

If McAllister has nothing to hide, why not simply respond with, "Dude, you are completely incorrect about my involvement in perpetrating a hoax.  And if there was one, which I doubt, I knew nothing about it."

There you go, that was all that needed to be said.  But instead of such a simple response, McAllister threatens to bitchslap this guy if he meets him, and then fantasizes about killing him in a duel? 

Seriously?

It sounds to me like McAllister is worried that the Professor might have the goods, and that his journalistic credibility might be in question right when he is just now getting back into the news business.

Okay want a little inside info?  Professor Scharlott and I have been in contact for about two months.  I received and read a rough draft of his research paper about a month ago, and told him it was awesome! We had discussed the possibility of just having it posted here on IM, but I told him it would be much better if he could publish it somewhere which would reach a wider audience.

Clearly he took that advice.

Now to be clear, I had NOTHING to do with the research that went into this, nor did  I write any of it myself. This is 100% the result of Professor Scharlott's hard work, and it is amazing!

As a matter of fact if you click the link up at the top you can read his paper for yourself.  And believe me, it is well worth your time to do so.

Update: Joe McGinniss has something interesting to say about this story as well.